Blow To Raila As IEBC Suspends Vote Tallying In Nairobi Polling Station

Elsewhere, tallying at Bobasi Constituency, Kisii county was suspended after chaos erupted at the centre

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Aug 10, 2022 - 16:41 Updated: Aug 10, 2022 - 17:07
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Blow To Raila As IEBC Suspends Vote Tallying In Nairobi Polling Station
Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Coalition presidential candidate Raila Odinga casts his ballot at Old Kibra polling station in Nairobi on August 9, 2022. /DAILY NATION

Vote tallying at Mathare Constituency in Nairobi County was suspended after one of its candidates raised allegations of rigging.

A report by the Nation revealed that vote tallying was suspended at St Teresa Primary School following rigging claims made by Billian Ojiwa, who is seeking the parliamentary seat on a United Democratic Alliance (UDA) ticket.

Ojiwa said he had raised an alarm on Wednesday, August 10 after his agents suspected that ballot boxes from Hospital Ward, Ngeil Ward and Huruma Ward were tampered with.

A photo of ballot boxes at a polling station. /K24 DIGITAL

"Someone was found trying to open the ballot boxes and we have also noticed that some had foreign ballot papers," he told the publication.

"The number of ballot papers is not matching what was recorded yesterday. My agents say that they were not shown some of the ballot papers."

Ojiwa's alarm prompted IEBC returning officer Lucy Wangari Munyiri to leave the tallying centre for brief moments before returning with directions that the ballots suspected to have been tampered with be placed aside.

She added that she will hold a meeting with election observers and Ojiwa 's agents to resolve the issue. Vote tallying was reportedly resumed afterwhich.

Mathare is a notable stronghold of Azimio la Umoja presidential candidate, Raila Odinga, with provisional results showing him leading his opponent, Deputy President William Ruto by a considerable margin.

Elsewhere, tallying at Bobasi Constituency, Kisii county was suspended after chaos erupted at the centre, with preliminary reports revealing that four ballot boxes allegedly marked in favour of one candidate were found in a private room within the premises.

Since the incident, the Presiding Officer, polling clerks and agents have been arrested.

This came merely hours after Kirinyaga Governor, Anne Mumbi Waiguru, alleged similar claims, noting that two boxes stuffed with governor's ballots were hounded into a tallying centre during the vote tallying process.

"Rigging in broad daylight. Two ballot boxes with governors' ballots enter Kianyaga through the back door in broad daylight! They must be removed and counting must stop," Waiguru stated, calling for the process to be stopped.

Waiguru is battling independent candidate, Purity Ngirici, for the gubernatorial seat.

She had initially raised issues with the ballot papers after they were taken to Kakamega County instead of Kirinyaga County.

"Since our ballot papers are in Kakamega and we are told there was no exact number per polling station, why didn’t IEBC notice the shortfall? Where are those ballots as we speak? When will they get here?" she posed.

Kirinyaga governor, Anne Waiguru. /BUSINESS TODAY

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