The High Court Friday delivered a landmark ruling on the role of the Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC) in relation to pending election petitions.

The court sitting in Kisii maintained that the IIEC had been given the mandate by Parliament to take over as the respondent in election petitions in place of the defunct Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK).

Kisii Resident Judge Justice Daniel Musinga dismissed a preliminary objection raised by assistant minister for trade who is also the South Mugirango MP, Mr Omingo Magara, challenging the status of the IIEC in a petition filed against him.

Through his lawyer Julie Soweto Aullo, Magara had urged the court to dismiss the petition.

While dismissing the case in a 32-page ruling Justice Musinga also ordered Magara to bear the costs of the suit.

"After perusal of the Krieggler Report, I do not get the impression that the report was recommending the creation of a new electoral body to take over the functions of ECK and improve the electoral process, and at the same time insulate the new body against all the pending legal proceedings. That would be against the constitutional principle of separation of powers," Justice Musinga said.

The judge said that the new and clean image that the IIEC was intended to portray may be soiled by the discredited image of the ECK and emphasised that the true measure of integrity of IIEC will be how it conducts its affairs within the limited period of its existence.

Justice Musinga ruled that the petition proceed to a full trial and be heard on priority basis.

He fixed the date for the hearing of the petition by Mason Oyongo Nyamweya for October 12 to 23 and November 9-13, this year.

Nyamweya, who unsuccessfully contested the South Mugriango parliamentary seat in the last General Election, filed the petition against Magara, Returning Officer Joseph Sang'anyi Omambia, and ECK as 1st, 2nd and 3rd respondents respectively.

This is the second petition to go a full trial after Joel Onyancha lost his Bomachoge parliamentary seat last year in a case filed before Justice Musinga.

The IIEC will next month be tested as it conducts the Bamachoge and Shinyalu by-elections as its first task.