Babu Owino has retained the Embakasi East parliamentary seat after a votes recount showed him beating his nearest rival by over 4,000 votes.
The recount report showed Owino garnering 46,817 votes while his nearest challenger Francis Mureithi capturing 42,501.
In the August 8 2017 elections, Owino was announced as the winner with 46,587 votes against Mureithi’s 42,253.
After a court challenge by Mureithi, Judge Joseph Sergon ordered the repeat count saying his reasons were sufficient.
In the ruling, the Judge noted that the Embakasi East Returning Officer Nicholas Butuk admitted in court that the results he announced did not tally with the ones in Form 35A. He also acknowledged many errors in the forms.
The recount was deemed to be a success according to a report signed by High Court Deputy Registrars Esther Mburu and MbayaKi Wafula.
The report added that the scrutiny and recount was a success, except for an incident where one of the deputy registrar’s phones was stolen.
“The registrars are positive that the data collected and the report presented before the trial court will be helpful in the determination of the election petition.”
Parties in the case are expected to file or make their oral submissions on February 28 for a verdict to be delivered on Friday.
The case will come up for judgement on March 2.
