Jubilee nominations kick off in Nairobi
Nairobi gubernatorial aspirant Mike Sonko at Bidii Primary School where he voted on April 26,207. PHOTO | EVANS HABIL | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Andrew Musangi said Jubilee will use party member list to verify voters and will not use identity cards.
- Mr Sonko claimed that voters whose names were not in the list were not allowed to vote.
Jubilee nominations kicked off in Nairobi County on Wednesday with the party announcing that it will use party's member register in the exercise.
Voters queued in the polling stations to pick their preferred candidate amid tight security.
The party’s National Elections Board chairperson Andrew Musangi said the party will not use identity cards as announced earlier this week.
He said the party has instructed presiding officers to only use its members list as it has credible intelligence of attempts to “infiltrate” its nominations in Nairobi.
“We have made this decision after high level consultations and it is important to protect party from infiltration,” Mr Musangi told journalists at Jubilee headquarters in Pangani, Nairobi.
Nairobi Gubernatorial and aspirant Peter Kenneth at Bahati Primary School where he voted during the Jubilee Party nominations on April 26,2017. PHOTO | EVANS HABIL | NATION MEDIA GROUP
Earlier, some aspirants had complained that voters were being turned away as their names were missing from the party’s list.
There was a brief confrontation between Senator Mike Sonko, who is seeking the party’s ticket to contest for governorship, and a returning officer at Bahati Primary School over the missing names.
Mr Sonko claimed that voters whose names were not in the list were not allowed to vote.
The party's National Elections Board had earlier this week allowed voters to use their identification cards while voting in case their names are not in the register.
Another aspirant for Nairobi governor Peter Kenneth alleged there is lack of "uniformity" in voting in polling stations.
Voters queue at Kirigu Primary School in Nairobi County to vote in the Jubilee primaries on April 26, 2017. PHOTO | LILLIAN MUTAVI | NATION MEDIA GROUP
He said he has petitioned the Jubilee secretariat to check why some clerks are filling out names of voters by hand.
Earlier, one person died and another seriously injured after being stabbed by supporters of a parliamentary aspirant in Pangani.
The two were posting campaign posters on a wall near the Pangani Girls High School Wednesday morning when a group affiliated to another aspirant attacked them.
Nairobi County Police Commander Japheth Koome said the two were stabbed using a knife and while they were crossing the road to escape from the attackers, one of them was knocked by a car and was rushed to hospital where he was confirmed dead.
Reports by Patrick Lang'at and Aggrey Mutambo.
