Kenya candidate files court case over presidential vote
Source: AFP
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Kenya's defeated deputy presidential candidate Martha Karua said Friday that she had filed a case challenging the Supreme Court's decision in September which upheld the election victory of President William Ruto.
Ruto won a narrow victory in the bitterly fought August 9 poll against veteran politician Raila Odinga, who contested the results in an ultimately unsuccessful case lodged at Kenya's top court.
On Friday, Odinga's former running mate Karua said in a statement that she had filed a petition at the East African Court of Justice in Arusha, Tanzania, accusing the Kenyan court of undermining "the rule of law by violating the right to a fair trial".
In the petition filed on Thursday, Karua, who is one of Kenya's best-known lawyers, urged the regional court to order Kenyan authorities to conduct "transparent, independent, and professional investigations into all (the) violations" allegedly committed by the election commission and the country's top court.
No Kenyan presidential election result has ever gone uncontested, with Odinga alleging fraud and hacking of the election commission's servers.
But the Supreme Court delivered a unanimous verdict in favour of Ruto, saying there was no evidence to back Odinga's claims.
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Observers had feared that the disputed outcome could fuel violence in a country with a history of post-poll unrest, but voting day passed off peacefully.
The East African Court of Justice came into force in 2001 to ensure adherence to the laws establishing the seven-nation East African Community bloc, made up of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.
Source: AFP
