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In a country once known for political interference in the judiciary, Kenya's Chief Justice Martha Koome is no pushover: she built her career defending dissidents, and this year her court torpedoed constitutional changes proposed by the president who appointed her.

But her own reputation for independence and fairness is on trial after opposition leader Raila Odinga filed a Supreme Court case on Monday seeking to overturn the results of the Aug. 9 presidential election.

The election commission is split: the chairman announced that Deputy President William Ruto won by about 233,000 votes, but four out of the seven commissioners dissented, saying results were not aggregated correctly. Kenya's largest civil society election observation group says its count supports the chairman.