No Court has Ever Overturned Incumbent’s Victory

Today is going to be a big day for Kenya as it awaits Supreme Court ruling in a petition that was filed by NASA, challenging the declaration of President Uhuru as the winner. Uhuru Kenyatta was declared the winner after he defeated Raila with more than 1.44 million votes. Raila, on the other hand, claims that the election was never free and fair due to massive irregularities that characterized 2017 election. Even though Kenyans are hopeful that the Supreme Court is going to be fair, impartial, and upholds justice, it is not likely that it is going overturn Uhuru’s victory.

History confirms that no court has ever overturned presidential election, especially when the incumbent is declared the winner. This explains why challengers rarely contest election results when the incumbent is declared the winner. Court ruling always favors the incumbent or presumptive winner. Without quoting international examples, Kenya is a good example that shows that it is extremely hard for a court to overturn incumbent’s victory. In a petition pitting Kibaki against Moi in 1997, the case was thrown away by court simply because the former never served the latter with petition papers. Kibaki complained that Moi was ringed with security officers, making it impossible to personally serve the former president with papers. However, the court heard none of this. In 2013, Raila challenged the victory of Uhuru in the Supreme Court. As was expected, the court led by Dr. Mutunga upheld the victory of Uhuru after delivery shoddy ruling that lasted only three minutes.