Starting over again
NEWS ANALYSIS: Historical significance of Kenya's election ruling
Democracy has triumphed with the supreme court of Kenya’s decision to annul the result of the country’s presidential election, demonstrating that the judiciary can be independent from the executive
It would be hard to overstate the historical significance of the supreme court of Kenya’s decision last week to overturn the re-election of President Uhuru Kenyatta. It was, quite simply, a seismic event and its implications for Kenya and democracy in Africa will be fully understood only in the months and years to come. As the judges ruled four to two to overturn the presidential election result and void Kenyatta’s win, they opened the door to an "alternative" reality in which fraudulent elections are challenged and democratic standards upheld. Perhaps even more importantly, they proved that the Kenyan judiciary can indeed be independent from the executive, even when the stakes are as high as the re-election of Jomo Kenyatta’s son. "They have disrupted the system and the cycle of fraud and impunity, and opened a new page of democracy in Kenya and Africa," says Dennis Owino, a Kenyan commentator on politics and governance.
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