George Koimburi wins Juja by-election by a landslide
George Koimburi of the People's Empowerment Party, an outfit linked to Gatundu South legislator Moses Kuria and Deputy President William Ruto, has won the Juja Parliamentary seat with 12,159 votes.
He floored Jubilee candidate Susan Njeri, who came in second with 5,764 votes, as well as nine other candidates in the race. Ms Njeri is the widow of late Juja MP Francis Munyua Waititu who died in February after battling cancer.
At 6.10pm, the returning officer conferred Mr Koimburi with an election certificate after declaring him the winner, amid cheers and ululation from his supporters.
Mr Koimburi's victory follows an election day marked by poor turnout, bribery claims and an evening of chaos that led to suspension of vote tallying.
Voter turnout stood at 18.91 per cent of total registered voters. Juja has 115,632 registered voters according to the IEBC registry.
21,862 ballots were cast yesterday across Juja's 184 polling stations.
Juja Parliamentary by-election candidate George Koimbori (left) celebrates win with his sister Jane Momenta at Mangu School on May 19, 2021.
Juja Parliamentary by-election candidate George Koimbori (left) celebrates win with his sister Jane Momenta at Mangu School on May 19, 2021.
Stormed out
Earlier in the day, Ms Njeri stormed out of the tallying centre after claiming that she had been rigged out. She demanded that IEBC stop the counting process and start afresh.
She also alleged that her votes had been interfered with at several polling stations.
Chaos
On Tuesday night, chaos erupted at the Mangu tallying centre after goons stormed the venue. They claimed that Ms Njeri was being rigged out, as they attempted to cart away some ballot boxes.
IEBC issued a statement later that night accusing Kiambu County Governor James Nyoro of hooliganism that made it impossible for counting to proceed.
Counting then resumed on Wednesday morning, with IEBC boss Wafula Chebukati present at the tallying centre. He assured voters and candidates of a transparent counting process.
He cautioned interested parties against declaring victory, warning that this was against the law since IEBC is the only agency allowed to announce the winner.
"I saw a tweet of someone saying 'we have won'. Let us do things according to the law," he warned.
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