Mombasa Governor Ali Hassan Joho has sufffered his first loss in an election petition filed by former Senator Hassan Omar.
High Court Judge Lydia Achode on Tuesday dismissed an application by Joho to have the whole petition striked out.
Governor Joho had filed the application through his lawyer, Paul Buti, arguing that the exclusion of his Deputy William Kingi rendered the case defective and incompetent.
Mr Joho further argued that the Elections Act describes and recognizes a deputy governor as a candidate in the election, together with that of the Governor.
However, Judge Achode ruled that the omission of the Deputy Governor from the case did not matter adding that the petition by Mr Omar was in order as it stands.
[caption caption="Mombasa Law Courts"]
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Mr Joho, who was also represented by lawyers Dennis Mosota and Mohamed Balala, further maintained that the former Senator and his running mate Ms Linda Shuma filed the petition together as one hence the oversight to exclude Mr Kingi renders the petition defective.
“The Constitution, Elections Act and Election General Regulations have all made abundant provisions for the election of the deputy governor directly by the people at an election,” the application by Mr Joho further stated.
He argued that continuing with the hearing of the petition meant that the rights of the deputy governor will suffer as a result of a trial conducted without his participation.
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) indicated that it will support the application by Mr Joho and was given three days to file its response.
In their petition, Mr Omar and Ms Shuma asked the court to declare that there were massive irregularities in the conduct of Mombasa gubernatorial election.
The petitioners, who sued the IEBC, County Returning officer Nancy Wanjiku and Mr Joho requested the court to declare that non-compliance, irregularities and improprieties in the election for Governor affected the results.
[caption caption="Former Mombasa County Senator Hassan Omar"]
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