The court found that Farah Maalim failed to prove his case/COURTESY
NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 27 – The election of Leader of Majority in Parliament Aden Duale as Garissa Township MP has been confirmed.
Judge Hedwig Ong’undi upheld Duale’s victory and subsequently dismissed Farah Maalim’s petition seeking nullification of his election.
The election court has held that Duale was validly elected and rejected claims by the former deputy speaker that the parliamentary election was marred with irregularities that affected the outcome.
According to Justice Ong’undi, Maalim’s grounds seeking an order directing a by-election were not sufficient.
“Failure by some agents not to sign Form 34A is not enough to nullify third respondent’s win,” ruled the judge.
The judge also rejected assertions that voters were influenced to vote in favour of Duale.
“There is no evidence to show that voters were influenced to vote for the third respondents through bribery or intimidation,” she added.
Maalim had petitioned Duale’s win insisting that the Parliamentary election was not conducted in accordance with the law.
In his submissions, the former Ijara MP had told the election court there was improper relay and transmission of the parliamentary results which fundamentally affected the results.
Maalim had alleged there were massive irregularities that affected the number of votes he garnered.
On his part, Duale defended his election maintaining that he beat Maalim fair and square.
According to him, the election was free fair and done in accordance with the constitution and urged the court to dismiss the petition.
Duale was declared winner of the parliamentary race after garnering 21,300 votes against Maalim’s 14,745 votes.
About The Author
