Nyatike vote recount reveals less votes than IEBC tally
Nyatike MP Tom Odege (white shirt) with his lawyer Kennedy Okong'o at the High Court in Homa Bay on December 18, 2017 during the hearing of a petition against hiss election. PHOTO | BARACK ODUOR | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- A recount in some polling centres yielded a lower number of votes than those recorded by the IEBC in the August 8 election.
A vote recount in Nyatike Constituency, Migori County, has revealed discrepancies in the tally, raising queries on the contested August 8 election.
The number of votes in the recount contradict some of the figures announced by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.
RECOUNT
In some polling stations, the recounted votes were less than what was recorded in the IEBC forms.
The recounting was conducted at the Maranatha Church guest house in Migori Town and supervised by Lester Simiyu, the deputy registrar of the High Court in Homa Bay.
Early this week, the election court ordered a recount of the votes cast in 53 polling centres in Nyatike. The constituency has a total of 138 polling centres.
Justice Joseph Karanja, hearing the petition filed by Mr Fredrick Odiso to challenge the victory of Nyatike MP Tom Odege, made the decision after lawyers in the case agreed to narrow down the petitioner’s demands to vote recount.
ELECTION
Mr Odiso had initially asked the court to nullify Mr Odege's victory over claims of irregularities and requested a scrutiny of election materials used in the poll.
But after consultations, Mr Odiso’s lawyer Steve Biko, IEBC lawyer Fredrick Orego and Mr Odege's lawyer Kennedy Okong'o agreed to narrow the case to the recount of votes.
"The recount of the votes in the queried polling stations shall help in fast-tracking the case to its conclusion," said lawyer Okong'o.
Among the polling stations whose votes were recounted include Aonge Dhiang', Wang'e Long'o, Thim Lich, God Bim and Got Kachola.
QUERIES
According to Mr Biko, the recount of votes in the polling stations should answer queries raised by Mr Odiso in the case.
"The recount of votes in the disputed polling stations will reveal the irregularities committed by the electoral commission in the election," said Mr Biko.
Justice Karanja said the report from the recount would determine the direction of the case.
"The petitioners shall abide by the outcome of vote recount and the petition shall be concluded on the basis of the results," said Justice Karanja.
