Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and the Azimio la Umoja presidential candidate has declared that he does not recognize William Ruto as the president-elect.

According to Raila, the declaration of Dr Ruto as president-elect is null and void. Speaking on Saturday when he met religious leaders at his home in Karen, Raila said that Kenya was now the butt of all jokes after the 2022 general elections that he alleges were rigged in favour of Ruto.

“If those who were given the mandate to conduct election in our country can do such shameful acts, it shows our democracy is still far, and at this time people wouldn’t be celebrating on a winner,” Raila said.

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“If the seven IEBC commissioners did not give a statement as one body, then that was a bad show in eyes of other countries.”

Raila further said that he had decided to go the legal way because he wants peace to prevail.

“We want peace in our country and that is why we went the legal way so that we can take the evidence that we have that the elections were not transparent and fair,” he said.

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In the presidential contest, Dr Ruto was declared as the president-elect by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission after garnering 7,176,141 votes representing 50.49 per cent of the total vote. Raila got 6,942,930, which was 48.85 per cent of the total vote.