Raila contests presidential election results in Supreme Court – Business Daily
Raila Odinga during a press briefing after filing a petition challenging the August 9 presidential results. NMG PHOTO
Azimio leader Raila Odinga and his running mate Martha Karua on Monday filed an election petition challenging the final result announced by electoral body chairman Wafula Chebukati on August 15.
Mr Odinga says in the petition filed at the Supreme Court that the result declared by Chebukati was not complete.
The petition further alleges that Chebukati refused to share and circulate the final presidential results with the candidates’ chief agents, observers, media, and even fellow members of the commission before making the declaration.
He further claims that there were inconsistencies in voter turnout as captured in the Kiems kits and Form 34C. The petition says the voters captured in the kits were 14,446,779 voters representing 65.4 percent but the results in Form 34C stated 14,213,137.
Azimio says the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) is unable to account for over 250,000 votes that were cast in the election excluding votes captured manually.
“Nonetheless, there is a variance of 140,028 votes between the total number of votes as recorded in Form 34C and the total number of votes identified using the KIEMS Kits,” Azimio says in the petition.
Mr Odinga says votes recorded in physical copies in 42 polling stations allegedly differ from those issued to agents, Forms 34A and IEBC portal.
Most of them are in Kiambu and Bomet counties and one in Lurambi in Kakamega County, where Odinga’s votes were reduced.
He says Mr Chebukati did not tally and verify the count before declaring the results. Further, he says before the declaration, four commissioners publicly disowned the results as declared by the chairman.
“In complete and deliberate disregard of the separate and discrete role and functions of the 1st and 2nd respondents and in violation of Article 10(1) and (2)(a) and (c) of the constitution, the 2nd respondent proceeded to unilaterally declare the final result of the presidential election without tallying and verification by the 1st respondent of the result from 27 constituencies and whose outcome or count had an effect on the final result and outcome of the presidential election,” the petition states.
He says the petition will prove that the result declared by Chebukati is fraudulent and void because Dr Ruto did not attain the constitutional threshold of 50 percent plus 1 of all votes cast.
“The petitioners contend and will prove that the irregularities and errors in the 2022 presidential election were not minor or administrative or occasioned by human imperfection,” he said adding that they will demonstrate that the presidential election was conducted with a premeditated intent in order to secure a fraudulent result.
Three other petitions were filed challenging the August 9 presidential election.
Mr John Njoroge Kamau, a voter who also disputed the results argues that the mandate of tallying and verifying election results as received from the polling stations at the national tallying center has to be undertaken by all commissioners and not the Chebukati alone, as happened at Bomas of Kenya.
He is also seeking a declaration that the presidential election was not conducted in accordance with the constitution and the applicable law, rendering the declared results null and void.
Mr Chebukati declared Ruto the winner after polling 7.1 million votes against the former premier’s 6.9 million votes.
Another petition was filed by Khelef Khalifa and three other activists arguing that the results were unlawful as Mr Chebukati failed to adhere to the constitution, the law and court decisions on the electoral process.
The petitioners have to serve IEBC, Mr Chekubati and the president-elect Ruto within one day, after which the respondents, have four days to file their responses.
The hearing of the petition will start on Tuesday after a pre-trial conference.
