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Only four countries in the world have nullified elections and Kenya is one of them

By HILARY KIMUYU September 2nd, 2017 2 min read

Following the Supreme Court’s ruling on Friday, Kenya has joined an exclusive club of only four countries in the world that have had results of presidential elections nullified.

The historic ruling delivered by Chief Justice David Maraga also placed Kenya as the first country in Africa to ever invalidate the results of a presidential election.

Only Ukraine, Maldives and Austria have been through this road before, with the latter being the most recent having held a repeat vote in May 2016.

ANNULLED ELECTIONS

Ukraine annulled its presidential elections in 2004 after Victor Yanukovych, who had lost to Victor Yuchchenko after the second round, went to court seeking to annul the results.

A repeat poll was conducted and Yuchchenko once again emerged the winner with 52 per cent of the vote.

In 2010, Yanukovych was able to win the presidency beating Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

In Maldives, the country’s Supreme Court invalidated the results of 2013 first round presidential elections pitting former President Mohamed Nasheed and Abdulla Yameen where latter had won. A repeat polled was held and it produced similar results.

SUPREME COURT

In Austria, the Constitutional Court of Austria ordered a repeat vote after ruling that Austria electoral was disregarded in 14 of 117 administrative districts.

In the polls, Alexander Van der Bellen had been declared the winner after beating Norbert Hoffer.

It also ruled that 77,900 absentee ballots had been improperly counted too early. They ordered a repeat vote to be conducted in October 2016 but it was postponed to December 2016.

Van der Bellen won the repeat poll as well with 53.8 per cent of the vote and Hofer conceding the race shortly after polls closed.

In Kenya, President Uhuru Kenyatta, was re-elected with 54 percent of the vote, while his opponent, Raila Odinga, who had petitioned the Supreme Court to nullify the election, received about 44 percent, a difference of about 1.4 million votes.