Mombasa politician Suleiman Shahbal and President Uhuru Kenyatta during a past campaign rally. [Photo: Suleiman Shahbal/ facebook.com]
Former Mombasa gubernatorial aspirant Suleiman Shahbal has expressed confidence President Uhuru Kenyatta will be re-elected to serve a second term.
The Supreme Court on Friday nullified Kenya’s presidential election on the basis of a flawed electoral process that did not provide a level ground for a fair, free and transparent poll.“The Supreme Court has spoken, by majority decision it has nullified the Presidential election. It wasn’t the decision we expected, we may strongly disagree with it, but we have a duty to accept it,” Shahbal said Friday after the court ruling.“Let’s accept it. Let’s also maintain peace. Let’s prepare to silence the voices of critics and doubters by reaffirming the re-election of President Uhuru Kenyatta.”Opposition leader Raila Odinga and his National Super Alliance (NASA) had filed a petition at the Supreme Court, claiming the system transmitting votes had been hacked, and that forms from polling stations that were meant to back up the electronic results were not being uploaded.Making the ruling on Friday, Chief Justice David Maraga said the IEBC failed, neglected or refused to conduct the election in keeping with laws.Raila, in a 25,000-page presidential petition, accused the electoral agency of manipulating votes in favour of Uhuru and denying him the win.