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Mbeere North election petition: MP Leo Wamuthende to know his fate Thursday
Mbeere North MP Leonard Muthende.
The judgement on the petition challenging the election of Mbeere North MP Leo Wa Muthende Njeru will be delivered on May 21, 2026 at the High Court in Embu.
Justice Richard Mwongo said the reading of the ruling will commence at 10.30am.
Briefing the media at the Court's boardroom, Justice Mwongo told journalists to observe the court media guidelines when covering the judgement proceedings to avoid disrupting the proceedings.
Already, all parties have concluded submitting on the election petition and are now waiting for the judgement.
Newton Kariuki Ndwiga (Karish) is the one challenging the election victory for Mr Njeru who won the by-election by a slim margin. In his affidavit, Mr Ndwiga claims that the by-election was marred with irregularities and the election of Mr Njeru should be nullified.
He alleged that in some polling stations, voting was disrupted, suspended or abandoned due to violence and intimidation.
He also claimed that some duly registered voters were turned away at polling stations or denied their right to vote through unlawful manipulation of the register or failure of prescribed voting procedures.
According to the petitioner, counting and tallying of votes was conducted in opacity while statutory forms were unsigned, forged or defective.
Further, Mr Ndwiga argued that there was rampant bribery and undue influence of voters.
He submitted that votes cast by coercion was an electoral offence, thus the results declared did not reflect the free will of the electorates of Mbeere North Constituency.
Mr Njeru, who has already been sworn in as the Mbeere North MP, Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), Mbeere North Constituency returning officer John Mwii Kinyua have been cited as the first, second and third respondent respectively. Njeru of UDA won the seat with 15,802 votes against his closest challenger Newton Kariuki Ndwiga of DP who garnered 15,308 votes.
Mr Duncan Mbui of Chama cha Kazi was a distant third with 2,480 in an election the UDA candidate won with a thin margin of 494 votes, as announced by returning officer Mr Kinyua.
The total number of votes cast in the constituency with 55,124 registered voters was 33,947, representing 61.9 voter turnout.
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