Why Supreme Court of Kenya Cancelled Election Poll?

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On Wednesday, the Supreme Court of Kenya said that it nullified re-election of President Uhuru Kenyatta due to the electoral commission rejected to initiate an investigation for its computerized system that transmitted results. The court judges said that the electoral commission had rejected to allow scrutiny for its computer servers, so the court hadn’t any option. But, the court has agreed with the claim by opposition leader of Kenya Raila Odinga that the computerized data of the August presidential elections had been interrupted. A large number of demonstrators protested for and against the Supreme Court’s ruling outside the court. Earlier this month, the court cancelled President Uhuru Kenyatta’s re-election and said that there were irregularities and illegalities. It made the decision in response to Odinga’s petition challenging the official results that Kenyatta won with 54 percent of the vote.

The electoral commission of Kenya has set 17^th October as the date for re-election. The Supreme Court explained that why it cancelled the win of Kenyatta, the court said its order to view the computerized data was an excellent option for the electoral commission providing evidence to disprove interference claim of Odinga. The court further indicated that the electoral commission of Kenya failed to implement measures of verification which is essential by law and constitution in order to ensure that the conducted election was accurate. The electoral commission of Kenya had declared the winner of the presidential election even though the commission was missing thousands of scanned copies of forms. These copies were used to compile the presidential results. Point to be noted that the court of appeal ordered last year to improve accountability and reduce chances of electoral fraud.