Lawyers clash over alleged discrepancies in Othaya parliamentary elections

By WAINAINA NDUNG’U

Lawyers clashed over alleged discrepancies during the counting and tallying of the votes for the Othaya parliamentary elections.

Mr Kithinji Marete, who is representing the petitioner Mr Peter King’ara, claimed that massive irregularities marred the exercise culminating in the casting of 1,888 votes more than the registered voters in the constituency.

Marete claimed extra ballots were added to the tally of Ms Mary Wambui Munene of The National Alliance, who won the race with 16,285 votes.

Marete told Murang’a Law Court’s Justice Jairus Ngaa, who is hearing the petition in Nyeri, that results of the election should have been nullified as the votes cast exceeded the number of registered voters.

King’ara is seeking interim orders for recount and scrutiny of votes from the election and cross-referencing of the same with IEBC documentation and the petitioner’s affidavits.

But lawyer Peter Munge for IEBC and Cecil Miller for Ms Munene dismissed King’ara’s claims and plea for a recount as insincere and not based on law. Justice Ngaa will rule on the interim application before the main petition hearing begins next week.