Court nullifies Homa Bay Governor Cyprian Awitis election

The High Court in Homa Bay on Tuesday nullified the election of Homa Bay Governor Cyprian Awiti over electoral irregularities.

Justice Joseph Karanja issued the judgement following a petition filed by former Kasipul MP Oyugi Magwanga, who was contesting against Awiti in the gubernatorial election.

In his ruling, Justice Karanja faulted the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission for failing to adhere to electoral laws in the August 8th Homa Bay gubernatorial election.

The judge said the petitioner proved in his affidavit that there were several alterations to forms 37B, as most of them were not countersigned.  The court also noted that the IEBC failed to prove to the court that Mr. Magwanga’s documents presented to the court were forged as the commission”s legal team submitted in court.

Justice Karanja also said there were two sets of conflicting results on the gubernatorial election.

The court also ruled that the IEBC Returning Officers in the eight constituencies colluded with Governor Awiti and his deputy Hamilton Orata to manipulate results at the tallying center.

The judge ruled that the electoral commission never bothered to explain the alteration of figures in their forms, availability of blank forms and ballot boxes that had no or broken seals.

Justice Kajanja therefore ordered for IEBC to conduct a fresh election. He also directed IEBC and Mr. Awiti to pay Magwanga Ksh.4 million and Ksh.2 million respectively as costs of the petition.

The petition had undergone various stages of hearing including scrutiny and recount of select 91 polling stations across the county.

In the August General Election, Awiti of the ODM Party was declared the winner after he garnered 210,173 votes against Magwanga who vied as a independent candidate and secured 189,060 votes.

Tags:

governor Cyprian Awiti 2017 election Homa Bay election petition Kasipul MP Oyugi Magwanga

Want to send us a story? Submit on Wananchi Reporting on the Citizen Digital App or Send an email to wananchi@royalmedia.co.ke or Send an SMS to 25170 or WhatsApp on 0743570000

Leave a Comment

Comments

No comments yet.

latest stories