Kenyan opposition politician Raila Odinga has rejected the results of the presidential election held on 9 August saying that the figures announced on Monday were “null and void”.
According to the results announced by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairman Wafula Chebukati, Kenya Kwanza’s candidate Ruto garnered 7,176,141 votes, representing 50.59 per cent of valid votes cast. Azimio la Umoja candidate Odinga won 6,942,930 votes.
But addressing his supporters in Nairobi on Tuesday, Odinga accused the head of the electoral body of a “blatant disregard of the constitution”. He said:
We totally without reservation reject the presidential election results.
Odinga said that there was “neither a legally elected winner nor a president-elect” and vowed that his team will pursue all legal options.
The 77-year-old long-time opposition leader was running for president for the fifth time.
He has challenged the results in the previous two elections, including successfully in 2017.
Odinga accused the chairman of the electoral body Wafula Chebukati of “gross impunity”.
Minutes before Odinga spoke, four of seven electoral commissioners who refused to approve Monday’s results held a press conference to explain their decision.
The commissioners accused Chebukati of side-lining them and of announcing results that were full of “mathematic absurdity and defied logic”.
IEBC vice-chairperson Juliana Cherera said that if you added the percentages as announced by the chairperson of the commission the sum came to 100.01%.
However, some commentators have said that this is down to a simple rounding error.
More: BBC News