Esther Passaris wins Nairobi ODM woman rep primaries

Businesswoman Esther Passaris won the Nairobi ODM nominations for the woman representative seat in an election marred by chaos and allegations of rigging.

Ms Passaris will now face off with the incumbent Rachel Shebesh of Jubilee Party in the August 8 elections.

Ms Passaris garnered 65,104 votes against her closest rival Beatrice Kwamboka’s 11,296.

Other aspirants in the race were Jane Nyaboke who came third with 4,674 votes, Joan Otieno (3,410), Ramla Maalim (2,414) and Caroline Andisi (1,283).

NULLIFY VICTORY
After being declared winner, Ms Passaris said she will work hard to address problems facing Nairobi residents.

“I don’t want to focus on the pay I will get for the position, I want to help the people to empower themselves.

Meanwhile, rowdy youth caused chaos at the Nyayo gymnasium tallying centre after controversial results for the Lang’ata MP seat were announced prematurely.

Aspirant Ahmed Papa Ibrahim said by 3am the results from Karen and Nyayo Highrise centres had not arrived at Makadara Primary School tallying centre, and as they waited for them they heard that Mugumoini MCA Alex Ouda had been announced the winner at Nyayo Stadium.

Mr Papa said that an alleged fake returning officer announced results of Lang’ata constituency.

“Although Mr Ouda had been leading in the wards by a small margin, I knew I had my strongholds in Nyayo highrise and Karen but he was announced the winner before the tallying ended and we want the certificate declared null and void. We are waiting for the party to confirm,” Mr Ibrahim said.

BABU OWINO WINS
But Mr Ouda said the elections were free and fair. He said he is ready for any appeal or repeat of the exercise.

Mr Ouda said that the contestant complaining was number three and regardless of the missing votes he would still have won.

Babu Owino clinched the Embakasi East MP’s ticket.

Addressing journalists after the win, Mr Owino boasted that it was meant to be him "by bullet or ballot".

He said that he was unhappy with the process even though he had won, alleging there were plans to rig him out.

“I stated in my Facebook that I must win the Embakasi East ticket by bullet or ballot. That is how it is and you know I am not scared of anything,” he said.

VICTORS
At the same time, Nyayo Highrise MCA Akuk Maurice Omondi demanded that the party announces him the winner since tallying in his ward was botched.

Mr Akuk, whose shirt had been ripped off during a protest, claimed that his opponents had run away with ballot papers and boxes during counting.

Those who won parliamentary tickets in Nairobi are Steve Mbogo (Starehe constituency, 5,697 votes), Abdulkadir Mohamud Omar (Kamukunji, 2,782 votes), George Aladwa (Makadara, 5,385 votes), Babu Owino (Embakasi East, 6,093 votes), Ken Okoth (Kibra, 7,712 votes), and Tom Onyango (Embakasi West, 1,241 votes).