Kenya set for a pre-trial conference on poll petitions

Kenya’s Supreme Court is set to hold a pre-trial conference on petitions seeking to invalidate the presidential election results.

Nine petitions were lodged last week seeking to overturn William Ruto’s win.

The conference will be attended by seven judges who will preside over the petition arising from the August 9 elections. The judges will deliver preliminary rulings over various issues before presiding over the pre-trial conference.

They include whether the electoral commission chairman Wafula Chebukati violated the law by declaring Ruto the winner of the election. It will also consider the divisions in the commission, with one

faction seeking to have the election nullified and another maintaining that it should be upheld.

There will also be a consideration of a plea by Ruto seeking to remove individual electoral commission officials as respondents in a petition filed by his opponent Raila Odinga.

The ruling will be on by Monday next week. The judges will determine whether to grant orders for scrutiny and counting of votes as sought by Odinga’s coalition. They will also rule on applications by several individuals and entities seeking to be enjoined as friends of the court. —BBC