Friday, September 01, 2017

BREAKING: Kenya's Supreme Court cancels election results

Nairobi - Kenya's Supreme Court on Friday nullified last month's presidential elections, which the opposition claimed were riddled with irregularities, on the basis that the election was not conducted according to the constitution and Elections Act.
Kenya has made history as the first country in Africa to annul a presidential election and opposition activists are rejoicing at the historic decision.
"The declaration of Kenyatta's win is invalid, null and void," said Judge David Maraga, announcing the verdict of four out of six judges.
"The election commission failed, neglected or refused to conduct the presidential election in a manner consistent with the dictates of the constitution," added Maraga.
No Kenya presidential election has ever been nullified.
The court further ordered Kenya's Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission conduct fresh polls within 60 days.
According to official figures released by the commission on August 11, incumbent President Kenyatta secured 54.27 percent of the vote, while his rival, Raila Odinga, won 44.74 percent, in the August 8 polls.
With Kenyatta receiving more than 50 percent of the votes, the contest there was no need for a second round of voting.
However, violence broke out as opposition activists cried foul. Several people were killed in clashes with the police but the actual number of fatalities remained in dispute.
Shortly after the election results were announced, opposition candidate Odinga, claiming that the electoral commission's IT system had been hacked to manipulate the results, took his complaints of fraud to Supreme Court judges amid fears among Kenyans that renewed violence would break out if he lost his attempt to overturn the election results.
It is the third time in a row that Odinga has cried foul, after claiming he was cheated out of rightful victories in 2007 and 2013.
The disputed 2007 election led to politically-motivated ethnic violence in which more than 1,100 people were killed. In 2013, Odinga also took his grievances to court and lost.
This time around the courts have agreed with the opposition, which will get another chance at winning power in the next two months.

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