Kiambaa by-election: Vote-tallying suspended indefinitely

The Kiambaa by-election proves to be a hotly contested race that will go down to the wire. UDA candidate John Njuguna (L) leads Jubilee's Njama Kariri (R). [Standard]

Vote-tallying at the Karuri High School centre was suspended Friday morning after chaos erupted following protests over the Kiambaa by-election outcome.

The Returning Officer, Peter Muigai, announced the suspension after Jubilee Party candidate Njama Kariuki said he won’t accept the results if a recount of votes from Mucatha, Kawaida and Gachie polling stations was not conducted.

Provisional results from 152 polling stations out of the maximum 154 showed United Democratic Alliance (UDA) candidate, John Njuguna, in the lead with 21,301 votes against Kariri’s 21,057, a difference of 244 votes.

The returning officer on Friday dawn admitted to errors in tallying of votes from a section of the three polling stations.

Jubilee Party electoral agents engaged in a shouting match with their competitors in UDA, with the latter claiming that the election was free and fair, and the outcome should, therefore, be called.

The valid votes counted as of the time of publishing this story, were 42,611, representing a voter turn-out of 44.79 per cent. Kiambaa has 96,020 registered voters.