Uasin Gishu gubernatorial aspirant Amb. Prof. Julius Bitok and his supporters have protested the UDA nomination results that were announced on Friday.
Jonathan Bii Chelilim was announced the winner of the gubernatorial contest after garnering 71,152 votes. Prof. Bitok was second with 59,001 votes.
The former Kenyan envoy to Pakistan has however disputed the results claiming the nomination exercise was marred with massive irregularities.
He described the process as a sham and called on the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) National Elections Board to call for a repeat of the nominations in Uasin Gishu for the governor seat.
“We reject the results because we believe the nomination was rigged. We are aware of malpractices that started with the appointment of clerks,” Prof. Bitok told the press at his campaign secretariat in Elgon View estate on Saturday, April 16, 2022.
According to Prof. Bitok, they have evidence that some ballot papers were stuffed into ballot boxes in a number of polling stations, and results varied in favor of some candidates.
“We cannot accept messes in our party,” said the former envoy who was vying for the Uasin Gishu gubernatorial seat for the second time.
He vied for the same seat in 2013 but lost the United Republican Party (UDA) nomination to Governor Jackson Mandago.
Prof. Bitok says he has formally lodged an official complaint with the UDA party Disputes Resolution Committee.
Calls for a repeat of the gubernatorial nominations in Uasin Gishu came at a time the party had nullified results for the Moiben Member of Parliament seat nominations due to what the officials said were massive irregularities identified.
No official 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 results.
A section of aspirants from Turbo Constituency also called for a repeat of the nomination.
Led by Benjamin Rop and Raymond Kipkosgey, the aspirants said the results announced in the constituency were not credible and verifiable.
Current MP Janet Sitienei won the UDA ticket for the Turbo MP seat.
Lawyer Kipchumba Karori and Robert Kemei who finished second and third respectively in the UDA Uasin Gishu Senatorial race have also called for a repeat of the exercise.
Governor Mandago won the UDA ticket with 63,167 votes followed by Karori who had 45,347 votes. Kemei was third with 23,957.
