The Azimio la Umoja Coalition led by former Kenyan Prime Minister, Raila Odinga says it believes it has a watertight case against the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission at the Supreme Court where it is challenging the declaration of Deputy President William Ruto as the winner of the presidential race in the recent elections.
The coalition has delivered truckloads of committal bundles to the courts as part of the evidence to be used in the case.
The Electoral Commission on Monday last week declared Ruto the winner of the polls with a razor slim 50,49% of the vote against Raila Odinga’s 48,85%.
However, some electoral commissioners disowned the results indicating they were not involved in the final tally.
They accused the chairperson of the commission Wafula Chebukati of acting unilaterally when delivering the results.
Odinga arrived at the courts mobbed by hundreds of supporters – together with his running mate Martha Karua, they lodged the petition at the Supreme Court just ahead of the 2 pm constitutional deadline.
Odinga is one of nine petitions filed on Monday to challenge the declaration of Ruto as the winner of the presidential race in the just concluded elections.
In his petition, Odinga is seeking to have the court rule that Ruto was not validly declared as President-elect, that the presidential elections were not conducted in accordance with the Constitution and that Ruto did not meet the legal threshold of 50% plus one required to declare him the winner.
After lodging the petition, Odinga addressed a media briefing saying his petition was within the law. He accused his opponents of corrupting the system including the Electoral Commission.
Says Odinga, “A short while ago, we successfully filed our presidential election petition at the Supreme Court of Kenya. The action we have taken is perfectly in line with the stipulations of our Constitution on resolving electoral disputes. It affirms our belief in constitutionalism, the rule of law, and a peaceful resolution of disputes, including high-stakes ones like the presidential election. You have been shocked that as we prepared to go to court, others tried to stop us,”
Odinga says his bid to run for elections and now this petition is aimed at ending the reign of the so-called corruption cartels.
The former Prime Minister adds, “This is what the steps we have taken today and the ones we will take going forward are all about to stop the corruption cartels from getting to the heart of our nation and government, the presidency, and to stop the corruption cartels from jeopardising electoral health and democracy in our country. Otherwise, we will have no country.”
Regional and international leaders have come out to congratulate Ruto following the declaration.
This will be the third consecutive time that Odinga is challenging the outcome of the polls, in 2013 he lost a petition against Uhuru Kenyatta’s victory, in 2017, he succeeded but did not participate in the rerun as he did not agree with the constitution of the electoral commission.
VIDEO: Raila Odinga challenges Kenyan poll results – Sophie Mokoena shares more
