Gubernatorial poll losers vow to fight the results in court

As the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) winds up the announcement of results for various gubernatorial elections across the country, a section of incumbent governors and other candidates have already rejected the outcome of the August 9 General Election.

The candidates have claimed that the polls were bungled and have vowed to pursue the matter in court.

Those who have rejected the results are governors Lee Kinyajui (Nakuru), Francis Kimemia (Nyandarua) and James Nyoro (Kiambu).

Other contestants who have disputed the results are gubernatorial candidates Evans Kidero (Homabay), Patrick Kimani alias “Jungle”(Kiambu) and Sakwa Bunyasi (Busia).

The Nation learnt yesterday that the gubernatorial candidates who lost are preparing to file cases in court disputing the results declared by the IEBC.

Read: We are not happy with poll results, Kiambu Jubilee losers say

If they move to court, the swearing-in of the newly elected county bosses will be put on hold until the matters are resolved and concluded in court.

Mr Kinyanjui and Mr Kimemia have rejected results that declared Susan Kihika and Kiarie Badilisha winners in Nakuru and Nyandarua respectively.

Forensic audit

In separate press briefings on Saturday evening, the two called for a forensic audit of the entire exercise, which they said was marred with glaring irregularities.

Mr Kinyanjui has questioned the voting pattern in some polling stations where the number of votes was similar.

“We are talking with our legal and other technical teams including ICT, with a view to taking necessary actions,” he said.

Mr Kinyanjui added that the number of votes for each seat did not tally with the final figures, wondering how some people only voted for one person.

“Wanjiku votes and our responsibility is only to count the votes; we have no business manipulating what she has voted. Our conclusion is that the integrity of the process cannot be guaranteed and the outcomes do not reflect what Wanjiku did,” he said.

Mr Kinyanjui pointed an accusing finger at IEBC for the anomaly, which cost him and others the seats.

Mr Kinyanjui, who spoke at a Naivasha hotel, was accompanied by other Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition Party candidates, mainly losers who participated in the senatorial, woman representative, National Assembly and County Assembly races.

They noted that the exercise was marred with irregularities, bribery, violence and the locking out of their agents in various polling stations.

Governor Kimemia said that, after critical analysis, the gubernatorial results announced do not reflect the will of the people of Nyandarua County. 

Read: Kinyanjui laments low turnout as hitches rock voting in Nakuru

He claimed the results indicate a predetermined outcome with glaring discrepancies in voting patterns and results, and that the whole exercise was a sham orchestrated in Nyandarua and the entire Mt Kenya region. 

He said that, while the Kiems kits tally shows that the voter turnout was 54 per cent, the results announced by IEBC officials show that they were 66 per cent after the final tallies. 

“These discrepancies raise questions on the authenticity of the results. It's also very abnormal that my votes were similar in most polling stations and that the margin between me and my competitor remained almost the same, a trend we have witnessed in all Mt Kenya counties. We want to know where the additional votes in manual tallies came from. Notably, the number of voter turnout in all positions from MCA kept changing upward,” Mr Kimemia said.

He added that, in most polling stations, he got an equal number of votes in different streams despite the alphabetical arrangement in the voting streams in a polling station.

“My votes margin and that of my competitor who was declared the winner was between 20 and 60 in all polling stations, something that has never happened in the history of elections all over the world. It was like there was a robotic system of voting from the start to the end,” said Mr Kimemia. 

Homa Bay battle

Dr Kidero, who is a former Nairobi governor, also plans to challenge the election of Ms Gladys Wanga as Homa Bay governor.

Dr Kidero said he will file a petition in court citing alleged irregularities, which marred the poll.

“I will take necessary legal action as prescribed under the law. If you are not satisfied with the outcome of an election, you do what the law says,” said Dr Kidero.

Ms Wanga of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) was declared the winner with 244,559 votes.

Dr Kidero, who was an independent candidate, came second with 154,182 votes while Mark Raudi of the United Democratic Alliance was third with 1244 votes. Dr Kidero claimed that the election was marred by a lot of malpractices.

Speaking at his home in Asumbi in Rangwe Constituency after meeting elders and a group of religious leaders, Dr Kidero claimed that the election was manipulated to favour his competitor.

“The results captured in the original form 37A indicate I won the election. We have evidence from Mfangano, Rusinga and other polling stations indicating that the election was marred by malpractices,” said Dr Kidero.

In Busia County, Mr Bunyasi, the Nambale MP, is also headed to court to challenge the victory of ODM’s Paul Otuoma, saying, the election for the governor seat was marred by irregularities.

Mr Bunyasi, who contested for the seat on an Amani National Congress ticket, alleged that there was violence in some parts of the county that scared voters away from polling stations.

“There were some cases of chaos in some parts of Budalang’i, which led to a low voter turnout and it is an issue that would have been addressed by security agencies but that was not done,” said Mr Bunyasi.

The gubernatorial candidates claimed that there was widespread voter bribery, intimidation of agents and reported chaos which kept away voters from accessing polling stations.

They claimed that, in Nyandarua and Nakuru for instance, their agents were allowed to polling stations past 10 am and that many voters were turned away by the IEBC officials after Kiems kits failed, complaints they say they raised with IEBC but were ignored.

[email protected] Reporting by Eric Matara, George Odiwuor, Waikwa Maina and Okong’o Oduya