KENYA: Supreme Court Annuls Election Results

Kenya's Supreme Court has passed a verdict nullifying last month's presidential elections, which the opposition claimed were marred with electoral irregularities and not conducted according to the constitution and Elections Act.

Kenya has shocked the world and made history again as the first country in Africa to annul a presidential election especially where the ruling party was declared the winner. The opposition activists and their supporters have gone to town 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.

SEE ALSO: KENYA: Breaks World Record with The Harshest Ban on Plastic Bags

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 but this time around the courts concurred with the opposition, which has given them another chance at taking power in 60 days

READ ALSO: KENYAN SELF KIDNAP: Teacher Who Demanded Ksh 500,000 was in Mombasa with another man

Odinga has called for members of Kenya's electoral commission to be jailed immediately after the country's Supreme Court ruled that last month's elections be annulled. "They have committed criminal acts. Most of them actually belong in jail and therefore we are going to ask prosecution for all the electoral commission officials who have committed this monstrous crime against the people of Kenya," Odinga said