Lagdera MP reacts to nullification of his election victory
The Member of Parliament Lagdera constituency, Mohamed Abdulkadir Hussein, has said he will appeal the High Court’s ruling that nullified his victory in last year’s General Election.
Speaking to the media in Nairobi on Friday following the ruling, Hussein said the court ought to have dismissed some of the evidence that were submitted by the petitioner.
“We are perplexed by the actors of today’s judgment regarding our election… the ruling was not in our favour but we will soldier on. We will definitely appeal. Already a stay order has been granted pending an appeal,” he said.
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He said the ruling has brought to a standstill some of the works that had already started in his constituency.
“I have instructed my lawyers to move expeditiously to the Court of Appeal regarding this outcome and recover our victory,” he said.
The MP said that nullifying his victory, which was decided by more than 4,000 voters, the court had overturned the people’s will, pointing out that the court’s decision was based on votes from eight polling stations, some of which are his strongholds.
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He said it is ironical that the even after the court dismissed the petitioner’s claims that voting in some polling stations was marred by violence, it still ruled against him.
“Eight polling stations were scrutinized and the difference between the Kiems Kit and the ballots was 120. I was ahead by 1,050 votes but the court used those small differences to throw away the entire votes from my stronghold,” he said.
According the results of the August polls, Hussein garnered 5,939 votes, while UDA candidate Abdiqani Zeitun got 4,863 votes. The petition was filed Zeitun.
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