Kenya Supreme Court backs presidential election results, affirms Ruto’s win
William Ruto. Kenya’s Supreme Court on Monday validated William Ruto’s victory in the August 9 presidential election, ending weeks of political uncertainty. Chief Justice Martha Koome preside over a petition brought by opposition leader Raila Odinga. “This is a unanimous decision. The petitions are hereby dismissed, as a consequence we declare the first respondent (Ruto) as president-elect,” Chief Justice Martha Koome said. The court dismissed all nine issues at the heart of the challenge to the results, which had delivered victory to Ruto by a margin of less than two percentage points. “The… irregularities were not of such magnitude as to affect the final results of the presidential election,” Koome declared. Ruto, the 55-year-old incumbent deputy president, is now due to take office on September 13. Both the Ruto and Odinga camps had pledged to accept the court’s ruling.