Supreme Court reveals Raila's biggest mistake
The revelation was made as Maraga's team gave the detailed ruling
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The decision, which was delivered on Monday, confirmed that Odinga's withdrawal from the repeat election dealt a major blow to his chances of getting President Uhuru Kenyatta's election nullified.
Odinga had announced his withdrawal from the race after his legal advisors indicated that such a plan would have automatically nullified the repeat election and required the IEBC to conduct fresh nominations and have the election pushed to January.
However, the apex Court stated that while the NASA leader's public announcement and letter to the electoral commission was legal, within his rights and substantive, there was no way the elections it had ordered to be repeated could have been postponed.
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The judges ruled that the Constitution did not envisage the withdrawal of a candidate, but noted that the provision was contained in Regulation 52 of the Election regulations, which also detailed a procedure.
They further observed that Regulation 52 was not applicable in Odinga's case since nominations had long been conducted.
The regulation states that candidates who wish to withdraw can only do so within three days after the nominations have been done.
The Supreme Court ruling indicated that the effect of Odinga's withdrawal was at the heart of the petitions challenging President Kenyatta's win in the October 26th election.
The conclusion from the judges was that the ODM candidate's withdrawal could not be a basis for challenging the validity of the election and that a section of the 2013 ruling which NASA had relied in announcing the withdrawal, was not legally binding.
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