High Court orders recount of votes in Embu gubernatorial election

High Court orders recount of votes in Embu gubernatorial election

The High Court on Thursday ordered fresh tallying and scrutiny of votes in the Embu gubernatorial election in 710 polling stations across the county.

This comes after former Embu Senator Lenny Kivuti filed a petition challenging Governor Martin Wambora’s win in the August 8 General Election on August 25.

While delivering his ruling, Justice William Musyoka ordered for a recount, scrutiny and examination of the number of votes garnered by each candidate in the bitterly contested election.

“Due to the narrow gap of the final results between the petitioner and the respondent, the court has sought to settle the matter to ascertain who won the election,” ruled Justice Musyoka.

Justice Musyoka also ordered for the scrutiny of all Forms 37A in all the polling stations in Runyenjes and Manyatta constituencies, where the county returning officer claimed he corrected an error in Form 37B.

He also directed for a recount and scrutiny of votes in Gatengi Primary School stream one in Mbeere South constituency.

The recount will be carried out between January 22 to February 2 at IEBC warehouses where the voting material had been stored.

The recount exercise will be done under close supervision by the Deputy High Court Registrar who will then file a report on February 7, when the matter will be mentioned.

Lawyer Kithinji Marete who represented the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and the Meru county returning officer had submitted that the scrutiny should be limited to disputed polling stations.

Marete told the court that the petitioner did not provide grounds or sufficient evidence to allow the court to grant scrutiny in all polling stations.

Lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi who represented Governor Wambora also opposed the application on grounds that scrutiny could only be done in specific polling stations.

Following the ruling, supporters of Kivuti thronged the streets to celebrate what they termed as a first round victory.

 

Tags:

former Embu Senator Lenny Kivuti Embu Gubernatorial Petition governor martin wambora Embu deals governor Wambora blow in petition after ordering recount Scrutiny of forms in Embu gubernatorial election

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