The High Court in Kakamega has dismissed a by-election petition challenging Malava Member of Parliament David Ndakwa’s victory, upholding his win over his closest rival, Seth Panyako.
In the ruling, delivered on Friday, May 15, the court upheld the election of David Ndakwa as the Member of Parliament for Malava Constituency.
Presiding Judge Stephen Mbugi ruled that the petition failed to meet the legal threshold required to overturn the election results.
“The petition lacks merit,” Justice Mbugi ruled as he affirmed Ndakwa as the validly elected MP for Malava Constituency.
Blow to Panyako as Kakamega High Court Upholds Election of Malava MP David Ndakwa
Panyako had moved to court to challenge the outcomes of their election, claiming it was marred by massive irregularities and did not reflect the will of voters.
He alleged electoral malpractice at 54 polling stations, despite what he described as commanding victories in 134 of 198 stations.
“We won in 134 out of 198 Polling stations, but still they managed to manipulate and subvert the will of the people. They used 54 polling stations to manipulate the elections,” Panyako said then.
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He had asked the court to nullify the results and order a fresh election.
Justice Mbugi held that the petitioner had not proved the allegations to the standard required in election disputes, thereby allowing Ndakwa to retain the parliamentary seat. Panyako further alleged that the poll was marred by intimidation, targeted attacks on his campaign team, and what he termed deliberate interference meant to tilt the outcome against him.
According to him, his agents were harassed, ejected from tallying centres, and obstructed from monitoring the vote count.
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Malava By-Election Results
Seth Panyako contested the Malava Member of Parliament by-election under the Democratic Action Party of Kenya (DAP-K).
The Kenya National Union of Nurses (KNUN) Secretary General sought to succeed Malulu Injendi, who died in February, in the election held on November 27.
He emerged as the coalition’s front-runner, leading in all seven wards of the constituency.
David Ndakwa, who contested under the ruling United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party, won the tightly contested Malava by-election after garnering 21,564 votes.
DAP-K’s Seth Panyako came second with 20,210 votes. Wilberforce Indai of Kenya Moja came in at third place with 626 votes. The by-election saw 43,675 ballots cast out of 94,417 registered voters, translating to a 46.2% voter turnout across all 198 polling stations, with the results declared final.
