Kenya’s president calls ‘coup’ Supreme Court ruling on election
Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta has repeated his criticism of the country’s Supreme Court regarding a ruling to annul the results of the August 8 presidential election, saying the decision amounted to a coup against the will of people in the country.
Kenyatta said in a live, televised speech on Thursday that he would respect the Supreme Court’s September 1 ruling, which invalidated some 1.4 million votes he gained in the race against opposition leader Raila Odinga, adding ,however, that the decision was against the will of the Kenyan people.
“A coup in Kenya has just been done by the four people in the Supreme Court,” said Kenyatta, adding, “We have reversed everything in this country by the decision of a few people. I don’t know how history will judge these gentlemen.”
The Kenyan president criticized the court for emphasizing the processes in the elections that were deemed flawed rather than taking into account the number of votes that secured his victory.
“The citizen has been told he does not have a voice ... If that is not dictatorship, then I don’t know what to say,” Kenyatta said.
Kenyatta won a second term by a low margin in last month’s election.
The Supreme Court said in a detailed ruling on Wednesday that Kenya’s election board had failed to corroborate the electronic tallies of the votes against paper forms to eliminate potential typos before announcing the final results of the election. The ruling did not hint at any evidence of rigging in favor of Kenyatta.
On September 1, the court ordered a re-run within 60 days. Authorities have declared October 17 for the re-run. The date, however, seems unlikely due to the lack of time for preparation. Western allies of the Kenyan government also fear the vote could stoke instability in the East African country as it has been the case in the previous election.
Odinga’s claims of rigging after defeat in the 2007 election prompted rioting. About 1,200 people were killed in the violence that followed.
Meanwhile, Odinga has threatened that he would boycott the fresh vote unless certain people were fired from the election board, among other demands.
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