Kenya: Political uncertainty ends, Supreme Court upholds William Ruto's presidential election win

Ending weeks of political uncertainty, Kenyan Supreme Court on Monday upheld President-elect William Ruto's victory in the August 9 presidential elections.

Chief Justice Martha Koome said that it was a "unanimous decision".

"The petitions are hereby dismissed, as a consequence we declare the first respondent (Ruto) as president-elect."

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According to AFP, the decision dealt challenger Raila Odinga, who claimed there had been election fraud, a blow.

Last month, Odinga petitioned Kenya's highest court, stating he had "enough evidence" to demonstrate that he had, in fact, won the election.

To determine whether any anomalies were significant enough to invalidate the election, as was the case with the presidential election in August 2017 that Odinga also contested, judges have spent the last two weeks poring over boxes of evidence.

The court rejected Odinga's 72-page petition's claim that hackers hacked into the IEBC systems and uploaded tampered result forms.

Independent and Electoral Boundaries Commission's (IEBC) technology, according to Koome, satisfies the criteria for "integrity, verifiability, security, and transparency."

She dismissed all of the petitioners' assertions, adding that any anomalies "irregularities were not of such magnitude as to affect the final results of the presidential election."

Although the polling day went off without incident, the results triggered heated demonstrations in Odinga strongholds, and there are worries that the conflict could incite bloodshed in a nation where post-election discontent has a history of escalating into violence.

However, both candidates had pledged to uphold the court's decision.On September 13, Ruto will be sworn in as Kenya's fifth president.

Since 2002, no Kenyan presidential election result has been undisputed. After the 2007 election, Kenya had its worst electoral violence, during which more than 1,100 people lost their lives in confrontations between opposing tribes.

(With inputs from agencies)

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