Kenya Supreme Court removes opposition coalition from petitions challenging presidential election News
Kenya Supreme Court removes opposition coalition from petitions challenging presidential election

The Supreme Court of Kenya [official website] on Tuesday rejecte [text, PDF] the participation of the main opposition coalition in petitions challenging President Uhuru Kenyatta’s [official website] victory in last month’s repeat presidential election. This means that the National Super Alliance (NASA) [website] coalition will not be party to the petition challenging October 26 election.

Kenyatta’s lawyers objected to the participation of NASA, Kenyatta’s primary political rival party, in the election challenge proceedings. Delivering rulings on preliminary issues, the court upheld these objections. “NASA cannot be sustained as a respondent in this matter” Justice Jackton Ojwang said while reading a unanimous decision. In addition, the court also expunged controversial leaked internal memos obtained from the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) [official website] from the record, which the petitioners sought to rely on in their case.

Kenya’s election process this year has fueled protests [JURIST report] and violence in the country. Human rights groups say [Reuters report] at least 66 people have died in violence surrounding the elections. The court has until November 20 to rule on the petitions. If the Court upholds the result, Kenyatta will be sworn in on November 28.

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