A section of aspirants who were seeking the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) ticket for the Moiben Member of Parliament seat has called for the repeat of the nomination exercise.
The aspirants claim the process was marred with massive vote manipulation and a questionable tallying process.
In a media briefing in Eldoret town on Friday night, the aspirants led by Prof Phylis Bartoo, Joseph Lagat, and Donald Murgor questioned a decision by the Constituency Returning Officer to issue a certificate to a candidate that was not even among the top three in the race.
The nomination certificate was allegedly issued to James Kibor, an aspirant claimed to have been ranked at number four.
“The candidate that was given the certificate has a vote tally of about 4,000 by Friday morning, how did he get the 12,000 that were used to declare him the winner?” asked Prof. Bartoo, who had taken an early lead in the Moiben MP seat race.
“This matter should be handled by the party as fast as possible failure to which we will hold a mother of all demonstrations,” she added.
Preliminary results had suggested it was a tight race between Prof. Bartoo, a former Egerton University don, and former Eldoret South MP Joseph Lagat.
Donald Murgor was a distant third in the race.
“As UDA members, we ask that this matter be resolved by Saturday if possible,” said Lagat.
The aspirants said they do not recognize the certificate issued to Kibor, and insisted that the nomination exercise has to be redone.
Announcing of results for Moiben Constituency was delayed, and only the intervention of nominated Senator Millicent Omanga saved the day.
But even when the results for Governor, Woman Representative, Senator, and Members of County Assembly were announced, that of the MP seat race were not formally declared at the Constituency tallying center.
There were controversies in some of the MCA seat races, with the current leader of the Majority at the County of Uasin Gishu Josephat Lowoi protesting the results that indicated he had lost to James Serem.
Based on the results announced, after spirited attempts from Lowoi that they not be declared, James Serem had 2,375 votes against Lowoi’s 2,049.
[…] results were announced at the Constituency Tallying Centre, although other aspirants claimed James Kibor has been issued with the nomination certificate despite having been placed at number four in preliminary […]