Kenya's top court upholds Ruto victory in presidential vote

Kenya's top court upholds Ruto victory in presidential vote

Kenya's Supreme Court on Monday upheld William Ruto's victory in the August 9 presidential election, ending weeks of political uncertainty and delivering a blow to challenger Raila Odinga who had alleged fraud in the poll.

Kenya's Ruto declared president-elect amid results chaos
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"This is a unanimous decision. The petitions are hereby dismissed, as a consequence we declare the first respondent (Ruto) as president-elect," Chief Justice Martha Koome said.

The court dismissed all nine issues at the heart of the challenge to the results, which had delivered victory to Ruto by a margin of less than two percentage points.

READ: Kenya in tense wait for Supreme Court verdict on election

"The... irregularities were not of such magnitude as to affect the final results of the presidential election," Koome declared.

Ruto, the 55-year-old incumbent deputy president, is now due to take office on September 13.

Both the Ruto and Odinga camps had pledged to accept the court's ruling.

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