The High Court in Mombasa will rule on whether the Bura constituency election petition should be allowed or struck out. Judge Festus Azangalala is to deliver the judgement this month, on 29. This is after the ballots cast and all the material used in the election were scrutinised.
In the petition, Mr Halkano Abdulrehman, a voter, is challenging the election of Mr Abdi Nassir Nuh.
The court had ordered a recount and scrutiny, after which parties in the suit filed their submissions.
The petitioner’s lawyer, Gikandi Ngibuini, claimed voters were prevented from voting, while the MP’s supporters chanted slogans in his favour. He said vital documents were missing in most ballot boxes, adding there was a mix-up when Budalangi ballot papers were found in Bura. But the MP’s lawyer, Mutula Kilonzo Jnr, said voters who were allegedly turned away by presiding officers were not called to court to testify.
Kilonzo said voters who found some polling stations closed and voting concluded were also not called in to give evidence. The petitioner had alleged that 124 voters had been turned away from six polling stations, but in the list of particulars, none of their voters’ cards were made available to court and the polling stations were not identified.
