Given the timeframe in which a presidential election petition must be reviewed and decided, an advocate believes Raila’s pursuit of a Supreme Court ruling demanding a ballot recount will be difficult.
According to Duncan Okach, overturning a presidential election victory is a difficult task because the results reflect the will of the people.
Okach also claimed that due to the scope of the lawsuit, evidence from each of the 46,229 polling places must be presented to the judge hearing the petition.
Given that the petition must be resolved within 14 days, the court would struggle to examine all of the material in that time.
An acceptable verdict would be the annulment of the election results and the subsequent holding of a new election, or the continuation of Ruto’s victory.
Okach also stated that the Supreme Court judges may not be able to recount the ballots and declare a winner.
Raila accused Chebukati of ignoring the law and the will of the people by naming Ruto president-elect last week, while rejecting the election results. He claimed that election irregularities undermined the legitimacy of the vote and vowed to challenge the IEBC chairman’s proclamation through all legal channels.
