Kenya’s electoral commission says a new presidential election will take place on October 17.
The commission set the date to comply with an order from Kenya’s Supreme Court, which nullified the results of last month’s election due to what it called irregularities in the vote count and ordered a new election to be held within 60 days.
Monday’s statement from the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, or IEBC, says incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta, opposition leader Raila Odinga and their running mates will be the only ones on the ballot in next month’s vote.
The IEBC asked the court to release a detailed ruling for its decision Friday to annul the first election, so it can “identify areas that require improvement in the management of the fresh election.”
President Kenyatta was declared the winner of the first poll. The IEBC said he defeated Odinga by 1.4 million votes.
Odinga and his opposition NASA coalition rejected the result and petitioned the Supreme Court for a new election.
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