The court found that while some incidents and procedural lapses had been established, they were not widespread or substantial enough to affect the outcome of the election.

📻 Breaking It Down

NAIROBI, Kenya May 21 – The United Democratic Alliance (UDA) has scored a major legal victory after the High Court in Embu upheld the election of Njeru Leo Wa Muthende as the validly elected Member of Parliament for Mbeere North, dismissing a petition challenging his by-election victory.

In a judgment delivered on Thursday, Justice R. Mwongo ruled that the petition filed by DP’s Newton Kariuki Ndwiga failed to meet the legal threshold required to overturn the election, despite findings of isolated electoral irregularities and possible criminal malpractices.

The court affirmed Wamuthende’s election, bringing to a close months of legal contestation over the Mbeere North parliamentary by-election.

📌 What You Need to Know

Ndwiga had sought to nullify the election, arguing that the poll was marred by violence, failures in election technology, irregular handling of election materials and procedural breaches that allegedly undermined the integrity of the process.

He asked the court to declare the election unconstitutional, illegal and invalid and to overturn the declaration of Wamuthende as winner.

However, the court found that while some incidents and procedural lapses had been established, they were not widespread or substantial enough to affect the outcome of the election.

On allegations of irregular appointment and dismissal of election officials, the judge held that the petitioner failed to identify the affected IEBC officers, the alleged unlawful actions, or the specific legal provisions said to have been breached.

“The Court found that the evidence of the petitioner did not list the IEBC officers in issue, did not identify which of the officers were opaquely or irregularly appointed and or deployed or dismissed, and did not specify which provisions of any law were violated,” the judgment states.

Claims that voters had been disenfranchised due to failure to deploy printed voter registers were also dismissed.

📰 Source: Capital FM Kenya