The Supreme Court of Kenya has released a full account detailing the full judgment on the Presidential election petitions that were rejected by the court.
In a comprehensive report issued to the press and public, the apex court stated that case presented by the six petitioners did not meet the threshold in order to allow the cancellation of the presidential election.
On the first case concerning whether the technology deployed by IEBC in the elections failed the integrity, security and transparency standards, the court stated that the electoral body complied with the Elections Act in the exercise of its mandate and also during the failure of biometric kits.
“IEBC complied with Section 6A of the Elections Act by opening the Register of Voters for verification of biometric data by members of the public for a period of 30 days. Thereafter, the Register of Voters was revised to address issues that arose from the verification exercise,” read part of the statement.
“Whereas there was failure of KIEMS kits in 235 polling stations, the affected voters were granted the right to vote manually,” it added.
Regarding the petition concerning interference in the uploading and transmission of Forms 34A from the polling stations to IEBC’s public portal. The seven bench judges stated that the petitioners failed to convince them that such was the case.
“The Registrar’s Report revealed that the original Forms 34A from the contested polling stations, which were alleged to have been intercepted and interfered with, were exactly the same as those on IEBC’s Public Portal and the certified copies presented to the Supreme Court by IEBC under Section 12 of the Supreme Court Act,” the supreme court judges ruled.
Hence there was no difference between Forms 34A uploaded on IEBC’s Public Portal, those received at the National Tallying Centre, and those issued to the candidates’ agents at the polling stations.
There was further no credible evidence presented to support the claim that Forms 34A presented to the agents of Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Coalition Party were different from those uploaded to the Public Portal.
Regarding the petition that the postponement of Gubernatorial elections in Kakamega and Mombasa Counties, as well as Parliamentary elections in certain areas resulted in voter suppression, the supreme court determined there was no proof of such allegation.
IEBC’s explanation for the various hitches in the election was found satisfactory and the 50+1 victory votes garnered by president William Ruto determined to be true.