Court rules on vote zone petitions
All eyes are on the Judiciary day as a five-judge bench rules on 137 applications challenging new constituencies.
From 9am Monday, at Milimani High Court in Nairobi, the judges will give their verdict on the petitions challenging the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission’s decision to gazette the new boundaries
The bench, consisting of Mr Justice Mohammed Warsame as chairman and Judges Pauline Nyamweya, Ruth Sitati, Hellen Omondi and David Majanja, began sittings on May 29 in Nairobi and also held hearings in Kisii, Kakamega and Mombasa.
The Constitution requires the court to rule on cases arising from the boundaries delimitation within three months.
There is a growing concern that possible appeals that may arise from Monday’s rulings may delay preparations for the election and affect the polls date.
The fear is that an aggrieved party could move to court after the ruling and seek orders to stop IEBC from, say, registering voters in a given constituency until their appeal is heard.
The cases affect more than half of the 80 new constituencies, and until they are resolved, the IEBC calendar for the elections hangs in the balance.
According to IEBC Chief Executive Officer James Oswago, the commission has been holding consultative meetings in anticipation of the ruling that could force it to revise its work plan.
Chairman of House committee on implementation of the Constitution Abdikadir Mohammed, however, said that an appeal would be “outside” the review process set by the Constitution as 90 days.
