Ralia Odinga rejects Kenya’s presidential election result

Kenya’s Raila Odinga has rejected the results of August 9 presidential election that conferred victory on his rival, Deputy President William Ruto.

Recall that Odinga the electoral body of Kenya, on Monday, announced Ruto as the winner of the keenly-contested election.

Odinga, while addressing a press conference on Tuesday, said, “What we saw yesterday (Monday) was a travesty and a blatant disregard of the constitution of Kenya.”

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission chairman Wafula Chebukati said Ruto won almost 7.18 million votes (50.49 per cent) against 6.94 million (48.85 per cent) votes polled by Odinga in the August 9 election.

Elections in Kenya have history of political crises, with opposition often challenging results.

Ruto had in January 2006, announced his first intention ever to vie for the presidency in the 2007 Kenyan general election.

This was said to have been met with condemnation from some of his colleagues including former President Daniel Moi.

However, in the formation of the Cabinet in 2008 after the election was won, amid heated political crises, by Mwai Kibaki, Ruto was appointed the Minister for Agriculture.

Ruto was was among the people indicted to stand trial at the International Criminal Court for their involvement in Kenya’s 2007/2008 political violence.