Why it may take longer to get West Pokot election results
UDA party supporters engaging police in an argument demanding that IEBC announces results at Nasokol Girls High School constituency tallying center on August 10, 2022.
UDA supporters in West Pokot engaged police in running battles on Wednesday demanding results to be announced.
It happened as it emerged that it might take a little longer to get the final election results from West Pokot County owing to a poor telecommunications network coverage.
An official of the electoral agency said it is taking the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) longer to relay the results to county and national tallying centres.
West Pokot has four constituencies – Kacheliba, Kapenguria, Pokot South and Sigor.
Kapenguria returning officer Enock Otara said they had not received results from Endough ward.
He said they had received results from 187 of the 273 polling stations in the constituency and only 50 had been verified.
“Results from 137 polling centres have not been verified,” Mr Otara said on Wednesday.
Some 36 polling stations had not submitted the presidential results by Wednesday morning, he said.
“It is too early to know who the winner or loser is. We urge the electorate to remain patient,” said Mr Otara.
Running battles
Police were forced to disperse the rowdy crowd that had been denied access to the tallying center.
Supporters of former Governor Simon Kachapin and immediate former Kapenguria MP Samuel Moroto, both UDA candidates, claimed that the two leaders had won the seats and protested that IEBC was delaying to announce the results.
Waving placards and twigs, the protesters threw stones at police who were inside the school as they chanted, ‘Lonyangapuo must go.’
After a while Mr Kachapin, Mr Moroto and immediate former Kacheliba MP Mark Lomunokol arrived with other supporters and they were allowed to enter the tallying center.
Mr Moroto criticized police for throwing tear gas at innocent youth.
"We want to know why IEBC does not want to announce the results," he said.
The Nation.Africa team has established that presiding officers were still waiting in long queues to submit results at the constituency tallying centres. Many came from far-flung areas characterized by rough terrain.
Last week, County returning officer Joyce Wamalwa cited poor road and communication networks in some parts of West Pokot as a key challenge for the IEBC.
She said the IEBC will have to use satellite gadgets to dispatch results electronically in some parts where there is no network coverage.
Boost network
Speaking in Kapenguria last weekend after training election agents, she said they would boost the network by using satellite phones at polling stations where there is no network.
“Some places don’t have a network completely, but I would like to assure voters that the results will reach the main tallying centres as quickly as possible,” she said.
She added that some parts of West Pokot do not have roads, but they would use motorbikes and tractors to transport election materials to polling stations.
