Voters challenge Mbeere North MP Wamuthende’s victory over electoral name discrepancy
Two Embu voters have moved to the High Court to nullify Mbeere North MP Leo Wamuthende Njeru’s by-election win, arguing his name change left him off the voters’ roll and breached electoral law.
Two voters from Embu have filed a petition at the High Court challenging the election of Mbeere North MP Leo Wamuthende Njeru, opening a new legal battle over the legitimacy of the recent by-election.
Julieta Karigi and Patrick Gitonga are seeking to have the election results annulled and for the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to conduct a fresh poll. They are also requesting that the case be certified as urgent, arguing it raises fundamental constitutional issues relating to voter registration and candidate eligibility.
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The petitioners claim that the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) legislator contested and won the seat under a name that does not appear on the voters’ roll.
According to the petition, the MP—originally registered as Leonard Muriuki Njeru—executed a deed poll on September 3, 2024, renouncing that name and formally adopting Leo Wamuthende Njeru.
Ineligible to contest
Karigi and Gitonga argue that this name change rendered him ineligible to contest, insisting that the Constitution requires a parliamentary candidate to be a duly registered voter.
Since the electoral register contains only his previous name, they contend, Wamuthende was not legally qualified to appear on the ballot.
“The first respondent was declared the winner under a name absent from the register of voters. The only name appearing in the roll is one he had already abandoned through a valid Deed Poll,” the petition states, adding that the use of an unregistered identity makes the election “unlawful, invalid and void.”
The voters also accuse the IEBC and Mbeere North returning officer, John Mwii Kinyua, of failing to uphold electoral law by accepting nomination papers issued under the old name despite the published change. They argue that the electoral body allowed a candidate with “inconsistent identities” to run, ultimately compromising the credibility of the poll.
Wamuthende, who has since been sworn in as MP, is named as the first respondent in the suit.
He won the by-election with 15,802 votes, narrowly defeating his closest challenger, Newton Kariuki (Karish) of DP, who garnered 15,308 votes.
The contest saw a turnout of 33,947 voters out of 55,124 registered—a figure described as one of the highest in recent by-election history.
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