The Court of Appeal has nullified the election of Alfred Mutua as Machakos Governor in the August 2017 vote.
Judge William Ouko said the IEBC’s declaration of Mutua as the winner of the August 2017 vote was not valid.
“The results as declared by the returning officer failed the constitutional test,” he said on Friday.
The appellate court set aside the judgement by the High court in the petition filed by Wiper’s Wavinya Ndeti.
Justice Ouko said the election was not conducted fairly and directed the IEBC to conduct fresh polls.
The judges further ordered Mutua of the Maendeleo Chap Chap party and IEBC to pay the costs of Wavinya’s appeal.
The appeal was heard by judges William Ouko, Mohamed Warsame, and Gatembu Kairu
In February, the High Court sitting in Machakos upheld the election of Mutua dismissing allegations made by Ndeti.
Justice Aggrey Muchelule, when he gave a ruling, said the petition lodged by Ndeti lacked merit.
“The petition lacks merit…the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) conducted a free, fair and credible election,” the judge said then.
However, the Court of Appeal judges said the trial court erred in holding that the governor was validly declared as the winner.
The court faulted the IEBC for using Form 37C instead of using cumulative results from Form37A in declaring the win.
Ndeti, in her petition, accused Mutua of using county resources – including vehicles and funds, to campaign for his re-election contrary to laws governing elections.
After the ruling, Mutua told his supporters to stay calm saying: “I know I will be the fifth president of this country.”