The IEBC through its Lawyers has maintained that Constitutionally, Ruto hit the Constitutional threshold to be declared the president-elect of the Republic of Kenya pursuant to Article 138 (10) of the 2010 Constitution.
According to Mahat Somane, an advocate for the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) in the ongoing Presidential Election Petition case at the Supreme Court, William Ruto met the 50% plus 1 vote threshold required to be declared president-elect.
Somane, who made his submission on Thursday, refuted claims by Azimio La Umoja One Kenya party leader Raila Odinga, the case’s main petitioner, that Ruto did not meet the 50% plus 1 requirement.
“The court should ask whether the 50% plus 1 was met, and Your Ladyship, the late Justice Antonin Scalia’s answer to that question would be ‘Get over it, it’s over!'” Somane told the court.
“So to 50% plus one, the court made its determination in 2013 on the votes cast and the rejected ballots, and in 2017,” the advocate continued, citing Odinga’s previous petitions challenging the presidential election results in 2013 and 2017.
“I think the simple answer to the petitioner would be, get over it!” he concluded before yielding the floor.
