NAIROBI, March 15 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's Coalition for Reform for Democracy (CORD) led by Prime Minister Raila Odinga said on Friday it was to file an election petition on Saturday in the Supreme Court to challenge election of Uhuru Kenyatta as the country's fourth president.
CORD lawyer, James Orengo told journalists in Nairobi that the decision to postpone the filing of the case from Friday to Saturday was purely strategic.
"There are many entities who have also lodged cases at the Supreme Court and so it is our wish that our petition is not mixed up," said Orengo who is also Lands Minister.
According to Kenya's electoral laws, petitions challenging presidential results should be filed within seven days after the declaration of the results by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
"Our lead lawyers have therefore reached the decision for the coalition to file the case on Saturday as the registry of court has assured us that they will be open despite it being non-working day," he said.
Orengo added that the Chief Justice has announced that all petitions, whether filed on the first day or the seventh day will all be considered to have been filed on the last day.
"I want to assure the public that the documentation has already been compiled," he said. Orengo, who is also a member of Cord's legal team, said that it would be unethical and unadvisable to drag the IEBC to court without sufficient evidence.
He added that mobile service provider Safaricom has already furnished them with the information they requested.
"Our team has already received forms 34 and 36 but we are yet to get the forms 35 from the IEBC," said Orengo who is also a Senator elect.
The electoral body on March 9 declared Kenyatta, the son of the country's founding father, president-elect with 50.07 percent of the vote, enough to avoid a runoff against Odinga's 43.28 percent.
The 67-year-old Odinga, who refused to concede defeat, is seeking to have Kenyatta's declaration as President-elect nullified on grounds of anomalies that marred the polling and vote tallying exercises.
CORD is arguing that figures of votes attained by Jubilee Alliance whose flag bearer was Kenyatta were inflated especially in their strongholds while they were denied their votes in CORD strongholds a claim which the IEBC has said is baseless and pointless.
