Cyprian Awiti has become the latest governor to lose his seat after the Court of Appeal on Thursday upheld the High Court’s ruling that annulled his elections .

The Appellate court ruled that the petitioner, Oyugi  Magwanga, proved there were irregularities in 2017 poll and that the three-judge bench had upheld the High court’s ruling in entirety. The judges ordered for a repeat election and did not declare Magwanga winner of the election as he had sought.

Magwanga, who had vied as an independent candidate, was Awiti’s  closest challenger in the Homabay Gubernatorial race after he garnered 189,060 votes against Awiti’s 210,173 votes. The former Kasipul MP while disputing the results however argued that according to his parallel tallying center he had  garnered 224,863 votes against Awiti’s 174,235 votes.

The High court had in February annulled the Homabay’s governor’s election and ruled that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) conduct a repeat election free of irregularities. Awiti had moved to the Court of Appeal to have the decision overturned.

The Court of appeal has further fined Awiti and the IEBC Sh4 million AND Sh2 million respectively in legal costs.