Kenya Supreme court annuls presidential election result

Kenya's Supreme Court has nullified the result of the August 8 presidential election won by President Uhuru Kenyatta due to irregularities committed by the election board and ordered a new election in 60 days.

In a ruling issued on Friday, the court said the electoral board committed "irregularities and illegalities" during last month's vote, harming the integrity of the election and ordered another presidential election to be held within 60 days. 

The declaration (of Kenyatta's win) is invalid, null and void, said Judge David Maranga, announcing the verdict backed by four out of the six judges.

The first respondent (the election board) failed neglected or refused to conduct the presidential election in a manner consistent with the dictates of the constitution.

The decision, the first of its kind in Kenya's history, sets up a new race for the presidency between Kenyatta and veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga.

Kenyatta was announced the winner with 54 percent of the vote - but Odinga claimed the election was rigged with electronic voting results hacked into and manipulated in favour of Kenyatta. The Kenya's electoral commission had said there was a hacking attempt but it failed while international election observers said they saw no interference with the vote.

Responding to the ruling, Odinga said the ruling sets a precedent for the African continent and he thanked the judges for acting "for posterity of Kenyans".

Odinga has contested the last three elections since 2007 and lost. Each time, he claimed the votes were marred by rigging. 

In 2013, the Supreme Court dismissed his petition but this time, his team focused on proving that the process for tallying and transmitting results was flawed, rather than proving how much of the vote was rigged.