Supreme Court unanimously upholds William Ruto's victory

The Supreme Court has unanimously upheld the election of President-elect William Ruto in last month’s presidential vote, paving the way for him to be sworn in next week on Tuesday.

In a lengthy verdict delivered on behalf of the 7 Judge bench by the Chief Justice Martha Koome said"This is a unanimous decision of the court and we make the following orders; The presidential election petition number E005 of 2022 as consolidated with presidential election petition numbers E001, 2, 3,4,7 and 8 of 2022 are hereby dismissed."

"As a consequence, we declare the election of the first respondent as President-elect to be valid under Article 143 of the Constitution. This being a matter cutting across the public interest, we order that each party bear their own cost. It is so ordered."

The electoral body chairman Wafula Chebukati, on August 15, 2022, declared William Ruto the winner after garnering 7,176,141 votes, representing 50.49 per cent of the total votes cast. 

His main challenger Raila Odinga of the Azimio La Umoja One Kenya coalition party got 6,942,930 votes representing 48 per cent of the votes cast.

While delivering the abridged version of the judgement, Chief Justice Martha Koome who promised to avail the full judgment in 21 days said the petitioners failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that there was electoral malpractice to warrant nullification of Ruto's elections victory. 

"It is our finding that the declared President-Elect attained 50% +1 of all the votes cast in accordance with article 138.4 of the constitution," she ruled.

The apex court also dismissed all of the nine petitions that had been lodged before it to prove the exercise wasn't free and fair.