The August 8 presidential election won by President Uhuru Kenyetta of Kenya has been annulled by the Kenya’s Supreme Court.
The court presided over by Judge David Maraga in a ruling Friday said that the Kenya’s electoral board committed “irregularities and illegalities” during last month’s vote thereby bringing the integrity of the election to question.
Judge Maraga who announced the verdict of four out of six judges while declaring the outcome of the election as invalid, null and void, however, ordered another presidential election to be held within 60 days.
“The declaration of Kenyatta’s win is invalid, null and void. The election commission failed, neglected or refused to conduct the presidential election in a manner consistent with the dictates of the constitution”, Judge David Maraga said.
Kenyatta was announced the winner of the August 8, 2017 presidential election with 54 percent of the vote – but Odinga claimed the election was rigged with electronic voting results hacked into and manipulated in favour of Kenyatta.
Kenya’s electoral commission had said there was a hacking attempt but it failed. International election observers said they saw no interference with the vote.
The protest was brought before the Supreme Court by opposition leader Raila Odinga, who lost to Kenyatta.
Reacting to the landmark ruling, Odinga supporters erupted in jubilation after the decision was announced.
“This is an unprecedented ruling. This is a triumph for the people of Kenya”, Odinga said while reacting to the ruling.
Odinga’s lawyer had asked the court to invalidate Kenyatta’s win, saying a scrutiny of the forms used to tally the votes had anomalies that affected nearly five million votes.
Crisis around the election rose when the official who oversaw the electronic voting system was found tortured and killed days before the vote.
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