Thirdway Alliance Presidential Candidate Ekuru Aukot has been blocked from participating in the repeat presidential election currently scheduled for October 17.
This is after Chief Justice David Maraga rejected a petition filed by Aukot seeking to know whether other candidates, save for President Uhuru Kenyatta and NASA leader Raila Odinga, should be barred from the race.
Maraga stated that the Supreme Court did not have jurisdiction over the matter.
In a rejoinder, however, Aukot stated he would move to the High Court for interpretation.
Aukot had petitioned the Supreme Court to clarify on those eligible to contest in the fresh poll after the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) allowed only President Kenyatta and Mr Odinga to participate in the repeat polls.
In his petition, Aukot argued that he had a direct, legitimate and inalienable constitutional right to participate in the presidential election as ordered by the court, having been a presidential candidate in the August 8 poll.
IEBC's decision to lock out the other Presidential candidates was based on former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga's 2013 interpretation of what a fresh election meant.
“If the petitioner was only one of the candidates, and who had taken the second position in vote-tally to the President-elect, then the “fresh election” will, in law, be confined to the petitioner and the President-elect,” Mutunga's judgment read in part.
