Justice Roselyn Aburili has set March 7, as the judgment day for the election petition challenging the victory of Homa Bay Governor Gladys Wanga.
The judge set the date after the hearing, scrutiny and recount of vote processes for the case were concluded.
“The judgment shall be delivered on March 7, 2023, at 3 pm,” Aburili said.
Former Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero had filed the case saying the election exercise was marred with irregularities. He wants the court to overturn Wanga's victory.
Kidero went to court on September 8, 2022, while the case should be concluded and determined within six months.
The former Homa Bay governor candidate accused the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission and Homa Bay IEBC returning officer Fredrick Apopa of colluding with Wanga to interfere with the election.
In the election results, Apopa declared Wanga the winner with 244,559 votes against Kidero's 154,182 votes.
While testifying at the court, Kidero asked Justice Aburili to nullify the elections on grounds that it was not conducted in a free and fair manner.
“They colluded and subverted the will of the people. There were glaring irregularities in the exercise and that’s why we want justice served to the residents,” Kidero said.
The former governor also claims that the ODM party also meddled in the election affairs. He accused the party of using youths to cause chaos and influence the outcome.
Kidero explicitly said that the poll was rigged in favour of Wanga.
“I could have won the election had the referee conducted a free and fair exercise,” he said.
But Wanga dismissed the allegations saying the petitioner is unable to prove his case. The governor argued that Kidero and his team are driven by male chauvinism agenda.
“They don’t believe that a woman could be voted and declared the winner for governor seat. The allegations leveled against my victory are untrue,” Wanga said.
The judge held a virtual mention of the case on Monday where all the parties were directed to deliver copies of their final submissions on the vote recount exercise.
