High Court petition challenges IEBC’s role in legal profession elections
The petitioner argues that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) acted illegally and without constitutional authority.
A fresh constitutional petition has been filed before the High Court, seeking to overturn multiple elections conducted within the legal profession.
The petitioner argues that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) acted illegally and without constitutional authority.
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In the Petition, UK-based Kenyan lawyer Eliud Karanja Matindi has asked the Constitutional and Human Rights Division to declare that IEBC had no mandate to conduct or supervise recent elections for the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) Council, the Advocates Disciplinary Tribunal (ADT), and the male representative to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).
Matindi claims that all three processes were unconstitutional, null and void from the start.
In submissions filed on November 28, the petitioner stated that, despite being properly served, none of the 24 respondents, including the IEBC, LSK officials, and various elected representatives, and the three interested parties, entered an appearance or filed responses. He therefore urged the court to proceed based on the unchallenged record before it.
At the heart of the petition is a fundamental question: whether IEBC has constitutional or statutory authority to run elections for bodies created under the LSK Act and the Advocates Act. Matindi argues it does not.
He submits that, "Article 88(4) of the Constitution only allows IEBC to conduct elections for bodies created by the Constitution or those expressly assigned to it through an Act of Parliament. The LSK Council and the ADT, he notes, fall outside this category."
He further points out that neither Section 20 of the LSK Act nor the LSK's 2020 General Regulations prescribes IEBC as the body empowered to conduct the society's elections. At best, the LSK General Meeting may choose any qualified agency to run its polls, but such a resolution cannot override clear constitutional requirements.
The petition also challenges IEBC's capacity at the time the elections were conducted.
Matindi relies on a 2025 Supreme Court Advisory Opinion, which affirmed that IEBC cannot exercise its constitutional functions without a properly constituted commission meeting quorum thresholds under Article 250.
"With the electoral body lacking commissioners for more than two years after the 2022 General Election, the petitioner argues that IEBC was legally incapacitated and could not conduct any elections—including those for LSK, ADT and the JSC seat."
Matindi wants the court to declare all the impugned elections invalid and to order each party to bear their own costs, arguing that the case is brought in the public interest to uphold constitutional fidelity.
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