IEBC Clears the Air on Kiambaa Election Rigging Claims

IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati and President Uhuru Kenyatta at the IEBC National Tallying Centre at the Bomas of Kenya, Nairobi, August 11, 2017, when Uhuru was announced winner of the presidential election.jpg
IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati and President Uhuru Kenyatta at the IEBC National Tallying Centre at the Bomas of Kenya, Nairobi, August 11, 2017, when Uhuru was declared winner of the presidential election.jpg
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IEBC has refuted Kiambu Senator Kimani Wamatangi's claims that the recently held by-elections were rigged. In a press statement released on the evening of Thursday, July 22, IEBC said that the by-elections held on July 15, were successfully done.

The statement was prompted by Wamatangi's claims that the elections had been rigged. Wamatangi during an interview with Citizen TV on Thursday morning of July 22, claimed that the election results were highly curious, alleging to rigging.

Wamatangi wanted the IEBC to come out and clear the air on how it had conducted the elections, and to state its stand on the tallying of votes.

"The probability of people coming out in an election and going to cast their ballot independently in three different polling stations and you find that it is a coincidence that there are 237 votes in three different polling stations, 158 in two different streams...141 votes in three different streams...that is worrying," Wamatangi had opined.

John Wanjiku Njuguna During Kiambaa campaigns
An Image of John Wanjiku Njuguna During the Kiambaa constituency by-election campaigns on July 10, 2021.
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Dennis Itumbi

Of note is that the IEBC, however, indicated in the statement, that the results of a similar number of votes from different polling stations were "purely coincidental." 

The electoral body raised eyebrows on why it would not address the issue of the coincidence of similarity of votes from different polling stations.

IEBC said it has uploaded the result forms of the Kiambaa Member of Parliament on its website for references by members of the public. 

The by-elections of the Kiambaa Constituency Member of Parliament and Member of the Muguga Ward County Assembly which were held on July 15, attracted significant attention due to their meaning in the backdrop of the 2022 elections.

The United Democratic Alliance (UDA) candidate John Njuguna emerged victorious with 21,773 votes defeating Jubilee's Kariri Njama who garnered 21,263 votes total.

Kiambaa constituency vote tallying had been suspended after Njama and his supporters stormed into the tallying center, causing a commotion as they contested the voting results.

Kariri Njama, who vied for Kiambaa's parliamentary seat on Jubilee's ticket rejected the results vowing to move to court to seek redress.

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Jubilee candidate Kariri Njama confronts police officers at a tallying centre in Kiambaa on Friday, July 16, 2021
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