The Kenyan Supreme Court has confirmed the defeat, during the presidential election, of opponent Raila Odinga. He has just lost his fifth presidential election.
At 77, can Raila Amolo Odinga say goodbye to politics? While the historic opponent of the power in place thought his time had come, he fell victim to a new disillusionment. The one too many? Whereas Kenyan Vice President William Ruto's narrow presidential victory was disputed, both by opponents and by members of the Electoral Commission, Raila Odinga had seized the Supreme Court, hoping that the latter will return the Kenyans to the polling stations.
The opponent had filed a 72-page petition, in which one could read that 140 ballots had not been taken into account and that this affected "significantly the final results insofar as none of the candidates reached the constitutional threshold 000% + 50 vote" to win in the first round.
The Supreme Court had until Monday, September 5 to render its verdict. This one finally fell: and William Ruto can savor his victory. In a “unanimous” way, the judges decided that the appeals were dismissed and that Ruto was therefore “the elected president” of Kenya. The former vice president, who has become president, must therefore be sworn in on September 13.
Eternal opponent, eternal loser
If the Raila Odinga camp indicated several days ago that it would respect the decision of the Court, which has already canceled a previous presidential election, this decision seems to be fatal for the opponent. Because it is neither more nor less than the fifth defeat of Odinga, who this time had a huge chance of achieving his goals thanks to the support of his former opponent, outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta.
However, “a defeat under these conditions shows that Raila Odinga will never succeed”, whispers one of his supporters. Indeed, it is difficult to see the opponent re-enlisting in the years to come, after this fifth snub. It's the end of an era, with a mixed record to say the least.
There is indeed something positive in Odinga's career: this opponent of the one-party regime, imprisoned without trial between 1982 and 1991, managed to enter Parliament and then become Prime Minister in 2008, after the disputed re-election from Kibaki. But this dispute had pushed Kenya into an unprecedented ethnic war.
We will especially remember Odinga's fight in support of Mwai Kibaki during the 2002 presidential election, which put an end to a quarter-century reign of dictator Daniel arap Moi.
But also his many defeats in five presidential elections. Who contributed to write his legend, that of an opponent who weighs in the debates, but not in the polls.