Vote tallying halted in Kiambaa after Jubilees Kariri Njama contests results

Vote tallying halted in Kiambaa after Jubilees Kariri Njama contests results

Chaos erupted at Karuri High School, where the votes of the recently concluded Kiambaa mini-election were being counted on Friday morning.

This came after the Jubilee candidate for Kiambaa and his supporters stormed the polling station, claiming a vote-counting irregularity.

At the time, Jubilee’s Kariri Njama was second with 21,057 votes, while UDA’s Wanjiku John was first with 21,301 votes cast from the 152 out of 154  polling stations whose votes had been tallied.

Kariri and his supporters demanded a recount of votes from the Muchatha and Kawaida nursery polling stations, saying there was mischief in ballot boxes from two polling stations.

“You see, they had announced results earlier, wakasema Wanjiku was at 21, 301 and Kariri was at 21,057, kwenda kuangalia tena tunapata Wanjiku ameongezewa kura, hizi kura wametoa wapi, the Presiding officer is misleading us,”Kariri said on Friday.

At 6 a.m., the Returning Officer, Peter Muigai, acknowledged a snag in the tallying process and declared an indefinite suspension of vote-tallying.

The UDA party had already declared the election on Thursday night, with a photo of its candidate beaming from ear to ear alongside DP Ruto and Senator Hassan Omar going viral on Twitter.

Nominated MP Gideon Keter took to Twitter to congratulate the UDA candidate, captioning a poster of the UDA candiate being declared MP elect: ‘Congratulation My Friend. God has favored you to lead the great constituency of Kiambaa. May God grant you wisdom. ‘

While Senator Kipchumba Murkomen wrote: “Congratulations to you my friend John Njuguna Wanjiku of UDA on your election as the newest MP of Kiambaa Constituecy. Despite all the evil schemes&misuse of government resources&time to subvert the will of the people,the Lord God protected your victory. To God be the Glory.Amen!”

In the Muguga Ward by-election, Jubilee candidate Githinji Mung’ara defeated UDA candidate Kamau Thumbi in a close race.

According to the official results announced by IEBC Returning Officer in the ward Mr Evans Githinji, Mr Mung’ara received 4,089 votes, while Thumbi received 4,062 in all 29 polling stations.

Muguga Ward had 18,374 registered voters and four candidates running.

Want to send us a story? Submit on Wananchi Reporting on the Citizen Digital App or Send an email to wananchi@royalmedia.co.ke or Send an SMS to 25170 or WhatsApp on 0743570000

Leave a Comment

Comments

No comments yet.

latest stories