/ 30 March 2013

Kenya’s Supreme Court says Kenyatta ‘validly elected’

Kenyan president-elect Uhuru Kenyatta's trial at The Hague is expected to begin in July.
Kenyan president-elect Uhuru Kenyatta's trial at The Hague is expected to begin in July.

The court unanimously ruled on Saturday that the election had been conducted in a "free, fair, transparent and credible" manner and that Kenyatta and his running mate had been "validly elected", Mutunga said.

"It is the decision of the court that the 3rd and 4th respondents (Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto) were validly elected," the chief justice said.

The six judges dismissed petitions filed by Raila Odinga, outgoing prime minister and Kenyatta's main rival in the presidential race, and by civil society groups, over what they said was a series of irregularities that skewed the election results.

The petitioners had called for fresh elections to be ordered.

Kenyatta faces trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague over his alleged role in planning the violence that followed the 2007 elections that left more than 1 100 people dead. – Sapa-AFP.