Supreme Court upholds Ruto’s election as Kenyan president-elect

William Ruto

Kenya’s Supreme Court has upheld the election of William Ruto as the president-elect of the country. Ruto, Kenya’s Deputy President, was declared winner of the August 9 election by the Independent and Electoral Boundaries Commission.

Raila Odinga had filed a suit challenging the election results as announced by the IEBC in August. Delivering the ruling Monday morning, Chief Justice Martha Koome struck out Odinga’s suit and upheld the election of Ruto as the president-elect Kenya.

“This is a unanimous decision. The petitions are hereby dismissed, as a consequence we declare the first respondent (Ruto) as president-elect,” Chief Justice Koome said.

The court dismissed all nine issues of contention in the suit. Koome declared that the alleged irregularities in the election “…were not of such magnitude as to affect the final results of the presidential election.”

By the apex court’s judgement, the 55-year-old incumbent deputy president, Ruto, will now assume office as Kenya’s president on September 13, 2022.