George Koimburi clinches Juja parliamentary seat

George Koimburi of the People’s Empowerment Party (PEP) has been declared the winner of the recently concluded Juja Parliamentary seat by election.

Koimburi received a total of 12,159 votes from the constituency’s 184 polling stations; his closest rival, Susan Waititu, who was running on a Jubilee ticket, came in a distant second with 5,746 votes.

Mr. Koimburi was flanked by Moses Kuria, the PEP party leader and Gatundu South MP at the Mang’u High School where tallying was underway on Wednesday.

The tallying of votes cast in the polls, which saw a low voter turnout of 18.9 percent, was completed on Wednesday afternoon.

On Tuesday, a night of chaos threatened to derail the process, forcing the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to halt tallying.

Following a visit to the polling station by IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati on Wednesday morning, the tallying was resumed.

Mr Chebukati met with the County Election Manager, the Returning Officer, and the county security team, during which he revealed that four polling stations had witnessed attempted malpractice.

According to the IEBC Chairman, by the time the chaos broke out, the staff had finished tallying the votes and had completed the required Form 35A, which had also been properly signed.

“There were incidents in four polling stations where there was an attempt to interfere with the process, by the time the mayhem broke, the staff had finished tallying the votes and had filled and signed Form 35A,” Mr. Chebukati said.

He also stated that the Commission intends to write to the DPP’s office to seek prosecution of those found guilty.

“The commission takes the exercise of voting very seriously; after the investigations are completed, we will write to the DPP to seek the prosecution of those found culpable,” he added. “We are waiting for the security team to complete their investigations before issuing further instructions,”

At the same time, he warned anyone considering interfering with the process that the IEBC has put in place fail-safe procedures to ensure the integrity of the elections.

“Anybody who thinks they can introduce foreign ballots is wasting their time, the commission is committed to ensuring that the will of the people is respected,” Mr Chebukati added.

The IEBC announced on Tuesday night that the tallying process had been disrupted by a group of individuals led by Kiambu Governor James Nyoro.

“The acts of hooliganism made it impossible for tallying process to proceed,” the statement read. “the election material and results brought in by the Presiding officer have been secured by the commision, candidates are urged to keep vigila until the exercise resumes,”