Kenya Setting Another Pace In African Politics, As Supreme Court Annuls Presidential Election, Orders A Rerun In 60 Day!

Kenya's Supreme Court has annulled the country's presidential election, due to "irregularities which harmed the vote". Overturning president Uhuru Kenyatta's re-election, a judge ordered a re-run of the vote within 60 days, News Republic reports.

According to theguardian.com, the six-judge bench ruled 4-2 in favour of a petition filed by the opposition candidate Raila Odinga, who claimed that the electronic voting results were hacked into and manipulated in favour of the incumbent. Kenyatta had won a second term with 54% of the vote.

“The declaration [of Kenyatta’s win] is invalid, null and void,” said the judge David Maranga, announcing the verdict. The court did not place any blame on Kenyatta or his party.

Odinga said: “It’s a very historic day for the people of Kenya and by extension the people of Africa. For the first time in the history of African democratisation, a ruling has been made by a court nullifying [the] irregular election of a president. This is a precedent-setting ruling.”

Lawyers for Kenyatta described the nullification as a “very political decision” but said they would live with the consequences.

Odinga’s lawyer had asked the court to invalidate Kenyatta’s win, saying scrutiny of the forms used to tally the votes found anomalies that affected nearly 5 million votes. With theguardian.com 7 News Republic.