8 The Constitution of a nation is not simply a statute which mechanically defines the structures of government and the relationship of government and the governed. It is a mirror reflecting the “national soul” the identification of ideas and ... aspirations of a nation, the articulation of the values bonding its people and disciplining its government. The spirit and tenor of the Constitution must, therefore preside and permeate the process of judicial interpretation and judicial discretion. 1.8.3. The Constitution must also be interpreted broadly, liberally and purposively. In John Harun Mwau & 3 Others v Attorney General & 2 Others, Constitutional Petition 65, 123 & 185 of 2011, the High Court stated: Where there are several articles that conflict it is the duty of the court to give effect to the whole Constitution and we fully adopt the principle of harmonization set out in the case of Centre for Rights Education and Awareness (CREAW) and Others v The Attorney General Nairobi Petition No 16 of 2011 (Unreported) where the Court, quoting other decisions, stated that, “In interpreting the Constitution, the letter and the spirit of the supreme law must be respected. Various provisions of the Constitution must be read together to get a proper interpretation. In the Ugandan case of Tinyefuza v The Attorney General Constitutional Appeal No. 1 of 1997, the Court held as follows: “the entire Constitution has to be read as an integrated whole and no one particular provision destroying the other but each sustaining the other. This is the rule of harmony, rule of completeness and exhaustiveness and the rule of paramountcy of the written constitution.” A similar principle was enunciated by the United States Supreme Court in Smith Dakota v. North Carolina 192 v 268 [1940] the court stated; “it is an elementary rule of constitutional construction that no one provision of the constitution is to be segregated from the others and to be considered above but that all the provisions bearing upon a particular subject are to be brought into view and to be interpreted as to effectuate the great purpose of the instrument”. 1.8.4. The Kenyan Constitution is considered to rank among the categories of transformative constitutions. Therefore, its interpretation is intended to give effect to its context and contribute to the objectives of wider constitutional development. It is conceived and envisioned as an instrument of transformation and reconstruction in the sense that it introduces fundamental change in social, political and economic spheres of life and mandates key actors to effect the transformative project in multiple ways. The term ‘transformative constitutionalism’ is attributed to Professor Karl Klare, an American legal scholar, in his writing about South Africa’s new constitutional order from which our own draws substantially. He defined ‘transformative constitutionalism’ to mean: […] a long-term project of Constitution enactment, interpretation, and enforcement committed (not in isolation, of course, but in a historical context of conducive political developments) to transforming a country’s political and social institutions and power relationships in a democratic, participatory, and egalitarian direction. Transformative constitutionalism connotes an enterprise of inducing large-scale social change through nonviolent political processes grounded in law. 1.9. Overarching principles of the Electoral System 1.9.1. The system of election 1.9.1.1. The President is elected by an absolute majority of votes cast in an election or in a two round election where no candidate obtains such a majority. In a presidential election, all persons BENCH BOOK ON ELECTORAL DISPUTE RESOLUTION