Events that will happen between now and the date of NASA case ruling
The plans for the swearing in ceremony of the president-elect have been put on hold.
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Speaking on Wednesday when he made his long awaited announcement, NASA presidential candidate Raila Odinga insisted that the David Maraga led supreme Court has its “second chance to redeem its image, other than what happened in 2013”.
Here is what happens between today and the anticipated date of determining this case.
Article 140 of the 2010 Constitution says: “A person may file a petition in the Supreme court to challenge the election of the President-elect within seven days of the declaration of the results of the presidential election.”
This means that Raila’s team has until the close of business tomorrow (Friday 18) to file it.
Upon filing the petition, Mr Odinga will have two days to serve the respondent. In this case the respondents will be the President elect Uhuru Kenyatta (probably Jubilee party) and the Wafula Chebukati led Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
The two respondents will then have four days from the date of service to file their responses.
After the response from Uhuru Kenyatta and IEBC has been filed, the law grants Mr Odinga another day from the date of filing the response to file an interlocutory application (judgment given provisionally during the course of a legal action), which in this case allows him to present any extra evidence as captured in the respondent’s response (that is from Uhuru and IEBC’s response).
Supreme Court hearing
A week later, or simply on the eighth day after filing the petition (by both parties), the Supreme Court will hold a pre-trial conference to zero in on the main issues raised by the applicants.
The hearing then would be required to begin immediately after the conference is concluded. The importance of the conference is determine whether actually there is enough evidence and whether the case holds all the required legal parameters to be heard in the Supreme Court.
The determination of the case would then be expected to be delivered in 14 days from the date of filing the petition.
The decision of the court will be final. The option could: upholding the decision by IEBC, meaning President Uhuru Kenyatta would be sworn in on September 9. This would be same as what happened in 2013 where the very court upheld the decision by the polls team.
Alternatively, the Supreme Court could declare the commission’s announcement null, paving the way for fresh elections to be held 60 days after the nullification of such results. In this case, only two candidates – Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga – will be on the ballot for fresh elections.
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