By Andrew Kariuki

The Embu High Court has commenced a court-ordered partial scrutiny and recount of ballots in the contested Mbeere North Constituency by-election.

The exercise, supervised by Deputy Registrar Mercy Kinyua, began on Monday following a directive by Justice Richard Mwongo, who ordered scrutiny in selected polling stations where irregularities had been reported. However, proceedings were briefly stalled after the petitioner failed to provide keys needed to open the storage room holding ballot boxes and KIEMS kits.

The by-election, conducted by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), had declared United Democratic Alliance (UDA) candidate Leonard Wamuthende Njeru as the winner. The results were later challenged by Democratic Party (DP) candidate Newton Kariuki Ndwiga, who moved to court seeking a review of the outcome.

Justice Mwongo, in a ruling delivered virtually on Friday, directed that ballot boxes and election materials from specific polling stations be opened and examined. These include Gitiburi 1 and 2, Kaungu, Siakago Social Hall, Mwondu Primary School, Gikuyari Primary School, as well as Nthigirani 1/1, Kamauwa 1/1, Gwakaithi 1/1, Mbaruari 1/1 and Cingera 2/2.

Tension rose at the court premises when the petitioner’s legal team struggled to access the storage facility. Lawyer Ndegwa Njiru was seen making urgent calls as he sought the remaining keys, which had not been availed in time.

Seizing on the delay, the respondents’ legal team, led by Adrian Kimotho, applied for permission to break the padlocks to allow the exercise to proceed. Kimotho argued that the petitioner’s failure to facilitate access was obstructing the court process and warned that such conduct could jeopardize the petitioner’s access to the tallying centre.

A brief exchange between the opposing legal teams followed, prompting the Deputy Registrar to order members of the media out of the premises to allow proceedings to continue without disruption.

Despite the rocky start, the scrutiny and recount exercise is expected to be a crucial step in determining the credibility of the November 2025 by-election results and could significantly influence the final outcome of the contest.