{"id":119833,"date":"2025-08-15T13:06:49","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T13:06:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/index.php\/2025\/08\/15\/supreme-court-says-it-has-no-jurisdiction-to-determine-next-poll-date\/"},"modified":"2025-08-15T13:06:49","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T13:06:49","slug":"supreme-court-says-it-has-no-jurisdiction-to-determine-next-poll-date","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/supreme-court-says-it-has-no-jurisdiction-to-determine-next-poll-date\/","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court says it has no jurisdiction to determine next poll date"},"content":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 15 \u2013 The Supreme Court has struck out a petition seeking interpretation of the date for Kenya\u2019s next General Election, ruling that it lacked jurisdiction to hear the matter and that the application was procedurally defective.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a unanimous decision, a seven-judge bench led by Chief Justice Martha Koome held that Petition No. E020 of 2025, filed by Dr. Owiso Owiso, Khelef Khalifa, and Ashioya Biko, could not be entertained because the court\u2019s original jurisdiction under Article 163(3)(a) of the Constitution applies only to presidential election petitions filed after an election has been conducted and results declared.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe jurisdiction of this Court under Article 163(3)(a) of the Constitution is an exclusive original jurisdiction, only triggered after a petition under Article 140 has been filed, and any decision under Article 140(1) must be limited to determining whether a president-elect has been properly elected,\u201d the bench ruled.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis jurisdiction is sacred and cannot be invoked to address pre-election disputes, including determining the date of the next presidential election,\u201d it held.<\/p>\n

The petitioners had sought a declaration that Article 136(2)(a) requires presidential elections to be held on the second Tuesday of August in the fifth year of a presidential term, warning that uncertainty over the 2027 poll date risked plunging the country into a constitutional crisis.<\/p>\n

\n\u2018Paka Mielo Disco\u2019 lawyer sparks fifth year election controversy<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018Fatally flawed\u2019<\/h2>\n

However, the court found the application \u201cfatally flawed\u201d from the outset, noting that the petitioners sought \u201cleave to admit\u201d a petition that had already been filed\u2014a process the court described as \u201cabsurd\u201d and \u201calien to its rules.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not know how a party can file a petition, then simultaneously seek leave to file the same petition which has already been received and admitted\u2026 any grant of leave would be superfluous,\u201d the judges stated.<\/p>\n

Citing a 2022 precedent in Okoiti v IEBC<\/em>, the court reiterated that it cannot determine the validity of a presidential election before it is held.<\/p>\n

Consequently, the Notice of Motion dated April 23, 2025, was struck out \u201cfor want of jurisdiction,\u201d with each party ordered to bear its own costs.<\/p>\n

The ruling effectively closes the door on efforts to have the Supreme Court pronounce itself on the timing of the 2027 General Election before the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission formally sets the date.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 15 \u2013 The Supreme Court has struck out a petition seeking interpretation of the date for Kenya\u2019s next General Election, ruling that it lacked jurisdiction to hear the matter and that the application was procedurally defective. In a unanimous decision, a seven-judge bench led by Chief Justice Martha Koome held that Petition […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-119833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119833\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}