Sospeter Ojaamong declared winner of Busia ODM ticket

LIVE: ODM Busia Nominations

Busia Governor Sospeter Ojaamong has been declared the winner of the Busia ODM gubernatorial primary in results announced Friday morning.

Mr Ojaamong garnered 92,358 votes against Funyula MP Paul Otuoma’s 63,752 votes.

Immediately after the announcement, Mr Otuoma rejected the results.

Earlier, tension was building in and outside the Busia Agricultural Training Centre tallying centre over delays in releasing the results of Thursday nominations.

Funyula MP Paul Otuoma (in blue) and his supporters take Busia County Elections Board Chairman Retired Justice Vitalis Juma to task over the delay in announcing nomination results on April 14, 2017. PHOTO | TONNY OMONDI | NATION MEDIA

Governor Ojaamong’ was in a do-or-die duel with Mr Otuoma for the seat.

Two of Dr Otuoma’s agents were ejected from the tallying hall by anti-riot police for being disorderly.

Joseph Juma, the ODM chairman of the Busia County Elections Committee, was interrupted by the two agents as one attempted to snatch a copy of the provisional results he was holding in his hands.

Dr Otuoma, who earlier addressed journalists and claimed victory in 90 per cent of the 175 polling stations, claimed there was a deliberate attempt to delay the results to rig him out.

“By 9pm Tuesday the officials had said 90 per cent of the results had been received and now 12 hours later they are nowhere to be seen,” Dr Otuoma said.

He told the poll officials to declare him the winner, arguing that results from the remaining 10 per cent of the polling stations could not make any difference for the final outcome.

“There was an attempt to try and subvert the will of the people of Busia but this has collapsed. Unless there is a miracle, which nowadays are rare, the results would be contrary to what we have,” the Funyula MP said.