Appeals court upholds election of John Oyioka as Bonchari MP

The Court of Appeal has upheld the election of Bonchari MP John Oroo Oyioka.

A three-judge bench on Wednesday dismissed with costs the appeal lodged by Mr Oyioka’s rival and former MP Zebedeo Opore.

Judge Kathurima Minoti, who read the judgement on behalf of his two colleagues, said the magnitude of errors that Mr Opore complained about were negligible, thus they did not affect the final results.

During the appeal hearing, Mr Opore had complained that the Kisii High court had disregarded his evidence on acts of violence, claims Judge Kathurima said were not true.

“We are convinced that the High court took into account all evidence brought by the petitioner concerning acts of violence during voting,” the judge said as he struck out the case.

“The appellant failed to prove to the required standards that the criminal acts he raised affected the results.”

Mr Opore was ordered to pay Sh1.5 million to the Independent Electoral and Boundary Commission and Bonchari Returning Officer David Cherop and a similar amount to Mr Oyioka.

Mr Opore had vied for the seat on a Jubilee ticket while Mr Oyioka vied on the People’s Democratic Party.

The seat attracted 11 candidates and Mr Oyioka emerged the winner with 11,934 votes against 9,281 garnered by Mr Opore, who was second.