Senior Counsel James Orengo has asked the Supreme Court of Kenya to nullify the victory of Deputy President William Ruto as announced by Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairman Wafula Chebukati.
According to Orengo, the elections were manipulated in favour of the former Eldoret North legislator.
Orengo in his submissions told the seven-judge bench led by Chief Justice Martha Koome that they have evidence showing that the final vote used to declare Ruto winner was manipulated through conspiracy.
“There was deceit, there was manipulation and all these were pre-meditated and made possible by the attack, if I may put it that way of the information technology (IT) structure of the electoral commission,” Orengo said.
The newly elected Siaya Governor further told the judges that the electoral commission’s final tally of the votes as declared by Chebukati does not add up.
In his final announcement, IEBC boss, Chebukati declared Ruto the winner with almost 7.18 million votes (50.49 percent) garnered, against 6.94 million (48.85 percent) of his political nemesis Raila Odinga.
“There was manipulation of the results in the Kiems kit. We ask the bench to nullify this election on the basis that the second respondent did not attain the 50 per cent plus 1 threshold required,” Orengo said.
According to Orengo, the electoral commission contradicted itself when it first indicated that the total votes cast were 14,466,779 representing 65.4 per cent before it later indicated in the final votes captured in Form 34C as 14,213,037.
The Supreme Court has already identified nine issues to determine the outcome of petitions challenging the result of the August 9 presidential election, including whether any irregularities are substantial enough to nullify the poll.