By Winnie Kamau
The Chairman of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Wafula Chebukati has suspended the repeat polls of 4 Counties which were to be conducted on 28th of October due to the spate of violence experienced in some parts of the country perceived as the strongholds of the Opposition.
Chebukati in his briefing suspending the repeat elections said “Yesterday some of my staff were hijacked and some were tortured. Some had their homes broken into and looted. Others were forbidden and violently prevented from reporting to their polling stations and were literally chased away. Some have taken refuge in police stations”.
The Commission through the chair has cited that some places the police force were overwhelmed as the surge of violence from protesters escalated.
The repeat poll was expected to be carried out in 27 constituencies: Alego Usonga, Awendo, Bondo, Gem, Ugenya, HomaBay Town, Kabondo Kasipul, Karachuonyo, Kasipul, Kisumu Central, Kisumu East, Kisumu West, Muhoroni, Ndhiwa, Nyakach, Nyando, Nyatike, Rangwe, Rarieda, Rongo, Seme, Suba North, Suba South, Suna East, Suna West, Ugunja and Uriri.
The 27 Constituencies where the re-elections have been suspended represent 3, 635 polling stations with over 1.7 million registered voters. These voters are drawn from Kisumu, Siaya, HomaBay and Migori Counties which are deemed as Opposition Leader, Raila Odinga’s stronghold.
Voting also failed to kick off in Turkana Central which has 5 polling stations and 696 registered voters due to the bad weather conditions experienced. While in Fafi Constituency in Garissa County one polling station with 71 registered voters failed to vote due to security challenges.
The IEBC is currently conducting Elections in both Fafi and Turkana Central Constituencies while the 27 other constituencies in Nyanza region will have to wait for the Commission’s decision whether they will conduct the Elections or not.
According to the IEBC online portal indicates they have so far received forms 34As from 37,154 polling stations out of 40,883 polling stations. The verification of the data from the Presiding and Returning Officers which is currently underway at the National Tallying Center in Bomas of Kenya has seen 4.04 million votes validated with 47.4% voter turnout.
