The Court of Appeal on Wednesday suspended High Court Judge George Odunga's ruling declaring the gazettement of Constituency and Deputy Constituency Returning Officers illegal.
Justices Erastus Githingi, Martha Koome and Fatuma Sichale overturned the ruling after IEBC filed an application appealing the decision under a certificate of urgency.
"We order that the declaration by the High Court that the appointment of the Returning and Deputy returning officers was in violation of regulation 3 (2) aforesaid as read with Articles 38 and 81 of the constitution and the implementation thereof, is hereby suspended and/or put in abeyance pending the hearing of the application inter parties.
"This order means that the constitutional and Statutory functions of the Returning Officers and their Deputies relating to the presidential elections slated for 26th October, 2017 are not invalid," the ruling read in part.
The Court of Appeal judges stated that the judgment would potentially lead to changing of the date of the election which would cause a constitutional crisis.
[caption caption="Judge George Odunga"]
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"The impugned decision of the High Court has the potential of rendering the Presidential election slated for 26th October 2017 irregular even before the elections are held, thus precipitating another election outside the stipulated 60 days and in contravention of the provisions of Article 140 (3).
"The 60 days stipulated under Article 140(3), is sacrosanct and a decision having the effect of altering the stipulated date, would not only be unconstitutional and thus invalid but it is likely to plunge the country into a constitutional crisis thus leading to anarchy," they declared.
On Wednesday, Justice George Odunga declared the gazettement of Constituency and Deputy Constituency Returning Officers illegal stating that the appointment of the electoral commission officials was not done in accordance with Regulation 3 (2).
Judge Odunga, however, declined to quash the gazettement due to public interest.
The Judge noted that since there was no prayer for cancellation or postponement of the election, the orders sought could not be granted.
The case had been filed by Director at Muslim for Human Rights, Khelef Khalifa, who is also part of the team which sought to stop the Thursday repeat presidential election at the Supreme Court.
Read Also: Judge Odunga Declares IEBC Officials' Appointment Illegal
[caption caption="Voters lining up in Nyeri on Thursday"]
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