Nine issues at the heart of the presidential election petition

Presidential petition pre-trial conference underway at the Supreme Court, Nairobi. [David Gichuru, Standard]

The Supreme Court has identified nine issues at the centre of the presidential election petition.

Chief Justice Martha Koome, has, at the start of the pre-trial conference today, ruled all petitions have been consolidated into one as they raise similar issues.

"We order that petitions numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 8 be and are hereby consolidated with petition number five which is designated as the lead petition for presidential election 2022."

The apex court will hear and determine nine major issues listed below:

1. Whether the technology deployed by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) for the conduct of the August General Election met the standards of integrity, verifiability, security, and transparency to guarantee accurate results.
2. Whether there was interference with uploading and transmission of forms 34A from the polling stations to the IEBC public portal.
3. Whether there was a difference between forms 34A uploaded on the IEBC portal, those received at the National Tallying Centre, and those issued to various agents.
4. Whether postponement of the governorship election in Mombasa and Kakamega counties, parliamentary election 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 to the detriment of petitioners.
5. Whether there were unexplained discrepancies between the votes cast for presidential candidates and other elective positions.
6. Whether the IEBC carried out the verification, tallying, and declaration of results in accordance with the provisions of Article 138(3) (C) and Article 138 (10) of the Constitution.
7. Whether the declared president-elect attained 50 per cent plus one vote of the votes cast in accordance with Article 138 (4) of the Constitution.
8. Whether there were irregularities and illegalities of such magnitude as to affect the final result of the presidential election
9. What reliefs and orders the court can issue or grant.

There were initially nine petitions filed at the Supreme Court challenging the declaration of William Ruto as president-elect, but two have since been struck out- that of Moses Kuria and Reuben Kigame.

Raila Odinga and Martha Karua are the primary petitioners, who have been allocated three hours to defend their case.

The supporting petitioners will each get 30 minutes.

The main respondents namely William Ruto, Rigathi Gachagua, IEBC, and Chair Wafula Chebukati have also been allocated 3 hours each, while the dissenting commissioners have been granted one hour each. The Attorney General will get 30 minutes.

Supreme Court will hear the petitions on Wednesday and Thursday, while rejoinders will be heard on Friday this week.