Kenya's Supreme Court Orders Vote Recount at 15 Polling Stations

Kenya held its presidential elections on 9 August. Wafula Chebukati, the head of the country's electoral commission - which consists of only seven members - declared sitting Deputy President William Ruto the winner of the election with 50.49 percent of the votes.

On Tuesday, Kenya’s Supreme Court ordered a recount of votes in 15 polling stations across the country as opposition leader Raila Odinga is contesting the result of the presidential poll.

According to the court order, the recount must be completed by Thursday.

This comes in the wake of Kenya's Azimio party - led by former prime minister Odinga, who lost the recent presidential election - filing a lawsuit with the Supreme Court demanding that the results of the vote announced by the country's election commission be annulled.

Odinga called the elections results a "major setback" to democracy in Kenya that could trigger a political crisis.

Kenya held its presidential elections on 9 August. Wafula Chebukati, the head of the country's electoral commission, declared sitting Deputy President William Ruto the winner of the election with 50.49 percent of the votes and Odinga receiving 48.85 percent. The deputy head of the election commission, Juliana Cherera, and three other members refused to take responsibility for announcing the election results, because of their lack of transparency.

Odinga has run for president five times since 1997 and never succeeded. His defeat in 2007 resulted in a deep political crisis and inter-ethnic clashes in Kenya. The conflict was resolved in 2008 by the creation of the post of prime minister of the coalition government which was granted to Odinga.