President William Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party has been hit with a fresh political challenge after two voters officially filed a petition questioning the legitimacy of Leo Wa Muthende’s win in the recent Mbeere North by-election.
The petition, presented to the court on Thursday, December 4, seeks to overturn Wa Muthende’s victory and compel the electoral body to conduct a fresh election.
The two petitioners argue that the election was not conducted fairly and that serious legal concerns were ignored during the process.
According to the application, the voters want Wa Muthende’s win nullified based on alleged irregularities. They claim that the newly elected MP was not a registered voter, a key requirement under Kenyan election laws.
They insist that the law is very clear — anyone seeking a political position must be a fully registered voter before vying.
The petitioners further highlighted that before the November 27 by-election, Wa Muthende legally changed his name from Leonard Muriuki Njeru to Leo Wa Muthende Njeru.
They argue that this change was not updated on the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) register, making the electoral roll inaccurate.
Because of this, they believe the IEBC acted unlawfully by declaring him the winner while his official details did not match what appeared in the voter register.
In their view, the entire process was compromised since the Commission’s records were not properly updated to reflect the candidate’s new identity. They now want the court to intervene and correct what they describe as a serious breach of electoral rules.
The petition was filed just two days after Wa Muthende himself confidently stated that he was ready to defend his victory in court. He maintained that his win was clean and that he had nothing to hide.
“They want to go to court; my lawyer is fully prepared,” Wa Muthende remarked earlier. “In fact, I am the one who should be taking them to court. I have clear evidence of them causing violence during the by-election.”
He went on to say that he followed all the required guidelines and plans to rely heavily on media reports to back his claims. According to him, he is the one who truly holds the strongest case.
This development comes one week after Wa Muthende was declared the winner of the by-election, where he secured 15,802 votes. His closest rival, Newton Kariuki—popularly known as Karish—from the Democratic Party, trailed closely with 15,308 votes, highlighting just how tight the contest was.
The Mbeere North by-election was held after Geoffrey Ruku, who previously served as the area MP, was appointed as the Public Service Cabinet Secretary.
His appointment came following the dismissal of Justin Muturi in March this year, which paved the way for the mini-poll that has now become the focus of a legal battle.
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