NAIROBI: Kenya’s Supreme Court on Monday unanimously upheld the re-election of President Uhuru Kenyatta in last month’s repeat presidential vote, paving the way for him to be sworn in next week.
Chief Justice David Maraga said all six judges dismissed the two legal challenges to the vote. The opposition coalition NASA insisted the government was illegitimate.
Kenyatta’s main challenger, NASA’s Raila Odinga, said in a statement by his adviser Salim Lone that the ruling “did not come as a surprise” and said “it was a decision taken under duress”.
“We in NASA had repeatedly declared before this Supreme Court ruling today that we consider this government to be illegitimate and do not recognise it. This position has not been changed by the court ruling,” the statement said.
It referred to security concerns raised by the opposition about the judges after one of their bodyguards was shot the day before the court was to deliberate on an 11th-hour request to delay last month’s election.
The chief justice said at the time police had “enhanced” security after the shooting. The court could not immediately be reached on Monday to comment on NASA’s allegation.
Monday’s ruling clears the way for Kenyatta’s swearing-in on November 28, but it is unlikely to end the worst political crisis in East Africa’s most developed economy in a decade.
Residents in the western city of Kisumu, where Odinga has strong backing, barricaded roads in protest at the court’s decision, and police later fired in the air to disperse them, according to a witness.
Odinga had called for a “National Resistance Movement” after Kenyatta’s victory last month. Kenyatta had said he would not engage in dialogue with the opposition until “constitutional options” had been exhausted.
— Reuters
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