NAIROBI, Kenya Mar 27 \u2013 The High Court in Embu has ordered a partial recount of votes in Mbeere North by-election over irregularities in several polling stations.<\/p>\n
Justice Richard Mwongo in his ruling on Friday directed that ballot materials from selected polling stations be re-examined after the court found irregularities and gaps in election records.<\/p>\n
The case was filed by petitioner Newton Kariuki Ndwiga, who is challenging the outcome of the election against the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and other respondents.<\/p>\n
The election was won by Leonard Wamuthende Njeru of the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) by 15,802\u00a0votes beating his closet rival Ndwiga who garnered 15,802\u00a0votes.<\/p>\n
In his petition, Ndwiga argued that the mini-poll was riddled with chaos, violence, manipulation of voter registers, and altered election documents. <\/p>\n
He claimed that what voters wanted was not reflected in the final results.<\/p>\n
One of the key concerns raised by the court was a ballot box that contained \u201cstrategic materials\u201d with no clear explanation.<\/p>\n
\u201cBallot box No. 135 contains items that were placed there without any basis or explanation,\u201d the court noted.<\/p>\n
The judge ordered the box to be opened and all its contents scrutinised to establish how the materials ended up there.<\/p>\n
The court also singled out Kaungu polling station, where violence disrupted voting.<\/p>\n
\u201cGross violence and overrunning of wananchi\u2026 resulting in a thirty-minute closure of polling, could have affected the outcome,\u201d the judge ruled.<\/p>\n
The court also directed that 15 ballot boxes containing KIEMS kits be opened. <\/p>\n
The aim is to determine whether unregistered or unidentified voters may have cast ballots.<\/p>\n
The court also identified eight polling stations where election forms (Forms 35A) may have been altered without proper countersigning.<\/p>\n
These include stations like Rwagori Primary School, Karimari Primary School, and Kanyuambora Primary School.<\/p>\n
A detailed review will compare results recorded on forms with KIEMS data and final tallies.<\/p>\n
The Deputy Registrar has been directed to oversee the exercise and file a report by April 17, 2026.<\/p>\n
The case will be mentioned on April 22, 2026, when parties will make final submissions based on the findings.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NAIROBI, Kenya Mar 27 \u2013 The High Court in Embu has ordered a partial recount of votes in Mbeere North by-election over irregularities in several polling stations. Justice Richard Mwongo in his ruling on Friday directed that ballot materials from selected polling stations be re-examined after the court found irregularities and gaps in election records. […]<\/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-135799","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\/135799","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=135799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135799\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}