The leader of the Kenyan opposition, Raila Odinga, referred to the results of the presidential election as “null and void” on Tuesday.
“What we saw yesterday was a travesty and a flagrant contempt for the constitution and the laws of Kenya by (Wafula) Chebukati the minority of IEBC commissioners,” Odinga told a throng in Nairobi one day after Deputy President William Ruto was pronounced the victor.
This was Odinga’s first appearance since the head of Kenya’s electoral commission pronounced Ruto the victor on Monday with about 50.5% of the vote.
Odinga supporters fought with the other commissioners at the declaration site when four of the seven commissioners abruptly said they couldn’t endorse the findings.
In a critical check on the process, the local Elections Observation Group declared on Tuesday that their highly regarded parallel voting tally “corroborates the official results.”
However, Odinga said that the only person who could see the results before they were announced was the head of the election commission.
“The law does not vest in the chairperson the powers of a dictator,” he said, and insisted that decisions by the commission must be taken by consensus.
The electoral commission’s chairman and the commission itself made no quick statements.
The cumulative presidential election results were being displayed on a screen at its tallying center until it stopped updating on Saturday and was later shut off.
On Tuesday, it was impossible to view the official form displaying the results.
Odinga’s team anticipated victory after outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta, in a surprising political move, backed Odinga rather than his own deputy president, with whom he had a long-standing disagreement.
For a quarter of a century, 77-year-old Odinga has sought the presidency.
After the announcement on Monday, his campaign has seven days to petition the Supreme Court, which would then have 14 days to provide a decision.
