IEBC broke law in conducting October 26 poll: Harun Mwau
Harun Mwau. He wants the IEBC to conduct a fresh presidential election after conducting fresh nominations. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Harun Mwau has filed a petition against the October 26 repeat presidential election, saying it was unconstitutional.
- He accuses the IEBC of deliberately violating the Constitution and the applicable electoral laws.
The failure by the electoral agency to subject presidential candidates to fresh nominations in the repeat poll on October 26 was fatal.
In his application, former assistant Minister Harun Mwau argues that he believes that no candidate was nominated hence the exercise is invalid.
ELECTORAL LAW
“Having not been validly nominated, none of the persons who participated in the presidential election held or was entitled to participate in the said election under Article 138(2) of the Constitution or to even appear in the ballot, rendering the said election unconstitutional, invalid, null and void,” Mr Mwau argues in the petition.
Parties are expected to file their responses by 5pm on Sunday, while the court will sit on Monday to hear interlocutory applications, ahead of the hearing on Tuesday.
Mr Mwau, the former Kilome MP, argues that the presidential election procedure requires that nomination for presidential candidates are conducted by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), at least 21 days before the day the polls are taken.
He further says that after the nominations, if only one candidate is nominated, that candidate shall be declared elected as president under Article 138(1) of the Constitution, and if two or more persons are nominated, an election shall be held in each constituency under Article 138(2) of the Constitution.
‘DISCRIMINATORY’
“As a result, this fresh election has to be conducted afresh starting from nominations as required by Article 137 in order to select the qualified candidates, and if at the nomination stage only one candidate is nominated, such candidate is entitled to be declared elected as a president under article 138(1) of the Constitution as read with regulation 21 and 51(3A) of the Elections (General) Regulations,” he said.
Mr Mwau says that at the time the IEBC published the special Gazette notices naming the presidential candidates and in their subsequent conduct of the fresh election of October 26, the commission knew it was deliberately violating the Constitution and the applicable electoral laws.
He also accuses the IEBC of being openly discriminatory.
The IEBC, he said, allocated two candidates only 48 days for campaigns, five of them had 11 days of campaign period, and one candidate had no time to campaign.
