Ruto says he’ll face any court challenge

Electoral body is split following close presidential election

Kenyan president-elect William Ruto says that if there’s a court challenge to the election results, “we will engage in those” as East Africa’s most stable democracy awaits a likely petition from losing candidate Raila Odinga.

Ruto spoke to journalists on Wednesday after meeting with members of his political alliance. He declared that his administration “will have nothing to do with the blackmail we have seen, the threats we have seen, the fear sown around the country” amid differing political views.

“We are having our democratic country back,” he said.

Ruto, Kenya’s deputy president, was declared the winner of last week’s close election on Monday, but the electoral commission publicly split minutes before the declaration. Four of the seven commissioners, who were appointed last year by President Uhuru Kenyatta, asserted that the commission chair excluded them from the final steps before his declaration.

On Wednesday, commission chair Wafula Chebukati in a statement responding to the allegations asserted that the four dissenting commissioners “demanded that the chairperson moderates the results for purpose of forcing an election re-run contrary to their oath of office. This is tantamount to subverting the Constitution and the sovereign will of the people of Kenya.”

Odinga, an opposition figure in his fifth attempt at the presidency, has said his campaign will pursue “all constitutional and legal options” to challenge the election results. He met with his team behind closed doors Wednesday. They have seven days from Monday’s declaration to file at the Supreme Court, which then has 14 days to rule on it.