Kenya Polls; Speculation Mounts on Whether Raila will contest Presidential Results

Its just hours after the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) declared William Ruto UDA,  the fifth president of the East African nation.

According to the IEBC Chairperson Wafula Chebukhati,  Ruto polled 7,176,141 votes representing 50.5 percent while his closest rival Azimio’s Raila Odinga polled 6,942,930 votes representing 48.85 percent.

However, the announcement was marred by confusion from electoral commission’s vice chair Juliana Cherera and three other commissioners who stated that the results were of “opaque nature” in the final phase.

“We cannot take ownership of the result that is going to be announced because of the opaque nature of this last phase of the general election.We are going to give a comprehensive statement… and again we urge Kenyans to keep calm. There is an open door that people can go to court and the rule of law will prevail,” she said in a presser on Monday.

Also, Odinga’s chief agent said they could not verify the results and made allegations of “electoral offenses” without giving details or evidence.

Now Kenyans are anxious to see if Odinga will again go to court to contest the results. There has not been any official communication from the Azimio la Umoja camp a regards the outcome of the elections.

Although, Odinga’s running mate Martha Karua posted on twitter saying; “It is not over till it is over.”

Protests erupted later on Monday in two Nairobi slums, mainly Odinga strongholds, where locals set tyres ablaze in protest of the results.

Kenya has not witnessed a presidential poll contest since 2002.

Article 141 (2),(a) of the Kenyan constitution provides that a President Elect should be sworn in on the first Tuesday, two weeks after a declaration by the IEBC is made.

However, a dissatisfied contestant has only seven days from the day of declaration to file a petition at the Supreme Court. And the Supreme Court is supposed to determine a petition within 14 days from the date of filing.