NAIROBI: In surprise ruling, Kenyan Supreme Court ordered a new presidential election within the next 60 days cancelling results of last month's poll over widespread irregularities. Chief Justice David Maraga said a majority decision by the panel of six judges found that President Uhuru Kenyatta was “not validly elected”, rendering the result “invalid, null, and void”. Veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga cheered at the historic ruling, weeping with joy. The 72 year old said, “It is now clear that no one in Kenya is above the law.”
In his judgment, Maraga said the election commission (IEBC) had “failed, neglected or refused to conduct the presidential election in a manner consistent with the dictates of the constitution.” Unhappy with the ruling, Kenyatta slammed the judges panel, calling them “crooks”. Run-up to the August 8 elections was marred by the murder of top IEBC IT official Chris Msando and opposition allegations that there was a certain rigging. August 11 declaration of Kenyatta's victory with 54.27 per cent votes triggered two days of protests in the slums of Nairobi and Kisumu. The violence claimed at least 21 lives, including a baby and a nine-year-old girl- most of them by the police.
Fishmonger Lynette Akello from western Kisumu rejoiced. She said, “For the first time we have got justice. They have stolen elections for so long.” Maraga said there had been “irregularities and illegalities”, notably in the transmission of election results. He said this had compromised the “integrity of the entire presidential election”. The court's full ruling must be made available within 21 days.
But lawyers for the election commission and Kenyatta countered that errors were simply "clerical" mistakes and technicalities that did not affect the outcome of the vote. A report filed by the court registrar found a number of errors in the 41,451 polling station tally sheets - known as form 34A - as well as in 291 of the form 34B constituency tally sheets, some of which were unsigned, not stamped, illegible or lacking serial numbers or watermarks
