Governor Cyprian Awiti fights to retain seat

Homa Bay Governor Cyprian Awiti has faulted a judge who nullified his election for ignoring scrutiny and recount of votes, which still put him ahead of his rival Joseph Oyugi Magwagwa.
Arguing before the Supreme Court on Thursday, Mr Awiti through lawyers Tom Ojienda and Otiende Amollo also faulted the Court of Appeal for not considering the scrutiny report, which was part of evidence in the election petition.

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The two told Chief Justice David Maraga, Justices Mohamed Ibrahim, JB Ojwang, Smokin Wanjala, Njoki Ndung'u and Isaac Lenaola that had the two courts considered the report, the outcome would not have been nullified.
Mr Amollo said that the scrutiny and recount was ordered by the trial judge and it was an error in law, for the court to ignore it afterwards.
He said all the allegations made by Mr Magwagwa in his petition were discounted in the scrutiny yet the court chose to believe the evidence of one witness, who testified that there were alterations.
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) also supported the argument saying the forms supplied by Mr Magwagwa, which showed alterations, did not originate from poll agency.
On his part, Mr Magwagwa through lawyer Charles Kanjama said the scrutiny could not be relied upon because there were efforts to suppress the will of the voters.
According to Mr Kanjama, there was a systematic pattern where Mr Magwagwa's votes were reduced by a margin of between 50 and 100 and the same transferred to Mr Awiti.
The lawyer also said IEBC dismantled all the safeguards that would have ensured the votes remained safe because many ballots boxes did not have official IEBC seals, counterfoils and alterations among other irregularities.
The election was nullified in February 2018 and judges Philip Waki, Fatuma Sichale and Otieno Odek upheld the nullification on July 19.