Court nullifies Magarini MP Harrison Kombe and Lagdera MP Abdikadir Hussein's elections

 

The victory of the Orange Democratic Movement Party's two members in Parliament was overturned on Friday, March 3, dealing a significant setback to the party.

The high court in Kilifi County ruled that Harrison Garama Kombe's election as the Member of Parliament for Magarini was invalid due to a number of irregularities.

The jury found a number of anomalies throughout the election process, including vote stacking and discrepancies between the total number of votes counted and the number of votes recorded on ballot papers.

Harrison Garama Kombe

As a direct result of this, the High Court issued an order that a new election be held so that the people in the constituency may legitimately choose a new lawmaker.

In addition, the High Court in Garissa declared that Abdikadir Hussein's election as a Member of Parliament for Lagdera was invalid because of several irregularities.

Hussein won the seat with 5,939 votes, defeating Abdiqani Zeitun of the United Democratic Alliance (UDA), who received 4,863 votes, according to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission's announcement of the election results.

Zeitun, who had competed against Hussein in the elections held in August 2022, petitioned the court in an effort to overturn Hussein's victory in the closely fought campaign.

The judgement on the election for the Lagdera Constituency was handed down on Friday, March 3, only a few days after four voters challenged Abdikadir Hussein's eligibility for election on the grounds that he wasn't a citizen of Kenya and so could not vote.

In their appeal, the four voters, who were represented by their lawyer Mwangi Ndegwa, asked the court to explain the criteria that were used to decide if Hussein was eligible to be an MP or not.

It is possible that the ODM would lose two more members of parliament in the National Assembly if an appeal to a higher court is not successful.

Abdikadir Hussein

This would keep up a trend of the Azimio coalition losing members to the rival Kenya Kwanza coalition.

Despite the fact that opposing political factions are currently getting ready to receive President William Ruto's upcoming proposals for changes and measures.

During the discussion on obstacles to overcome impacting the percentage of nominated MPs in parliament and the formation of a Senate Oversight Fund, among other suggestions, it was anticipated that the two sides would go head-to-head with one another.