The Supreme Court Of Kenya on Tuesday held a pre-conference trial of the Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Coalition Party leader Raila Amolo Odinga’s petition against the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
During the session, the court set out three days which the seven petitions will be heard, the respondents heard and a rejoinder for the parties for any issue raised addressed.
The seven-bench judge further limited the number of lawyers who will be representing parties in the petition which they attributed to covid 19 guidelines.
According to the judges the petition filed by ODM Chief and his running mate Martha Karua will be the lead petitioners while the others will be co-petitioners.
The judges also assigned the hours to argue during the case, therefore, petitioners will have a combined total of six hours while Raila’s petition will have three hours to make their submissions
The court laid down guidelines it will focus on to arrive at the verdict which is expected to be delivered on September 5.
The issues include;
- If the declared President-elect attained 50%+1 vote of all the votes cast in line with Article 138 (4) of the Constitution.
- Whether there were irregularities and illegalities in the whole presidential election exercise.
- If there was interference with the uploading and transmission of Forms 34A from the polling stations to the IEBC Public Portal.
- To determine the unexplainable discrepancies between the votes cast for presidential candidates and other elective positions.
- Whether IEBC carried out the verification, tallying, and declaration of results in accordance with Article 138 (3) (c) and 138 (10) of the Constitution.
- To determine if the technology deployed by the IEBC for the conduct of the 2022 general elections met the standards of integrity, verifiability, security and transparency to guarantee accurate and verifiable results.
- Whether there were irregularities and illegalities of such magnitude as to affect the final result of the Presidential Election.
- Whether the postponement of Gubernatorial Elections in Kakamega and Mombasa Counties, Parliamentary elections in Kitui Rural, Kacheliba Rongai and Pokot South Constituencies and electoral wards in Nyaki West in North Imenti Constituency and Kwa Njenga in Embakasi South Constituency resulted in voter suppression.
- What reliefs and orders can the Court grant or issue?