In Kibera slum, the tallying centre was a beehive of activity as ballot boxes arrived from polling stations
Kenya’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has scheduled Saturday October 28, 2017 to conduct elections in the four counties where voting didn’t take place on Thursday.
The electoral body says that protests staged by the opposition supporters prevented elections from being held in the counties of Kisumu, Migori, Siaya and Homa Bay which are opposition strongholds.
According to Wafula Chebukati, IEBC chairman, “Security is not in the hands of the commission. We were promised security by the Inspector-General of the Police and the government agencies and once we get feedback from them we shall be able to see how we can manage the movement of materials and the security of our officers in the affected counties.”
Protests staged on Thursday by supporters of Raila Odinga and his National Super Alliance (NASA) were such violent that poll stations could not be open for voters to exercise their rights in the four counties.
According to latest figures from 267 constituencies 6,553,858 Kenyans turned out to vote in the repeat presidential poll.
The commission said that Kenyans and the world continue to receive more data from the Kenya Integrated Elections Management System (Kiems) devices.
The IEBC says it has received 36,854 forms 34A and 75 forms 34B through its public portal as vote tallying for the repeat presidential election continues.
The electoral body also reported that there has been a low voter turnout in the repeat presidential election. In a number of areas polling clerks were left idle.
Opposition leader Raila Odinga boycotted the election re-run and urged his supporters to stay at home.
Turnout was estimated at 80% in the August poll, which was won by incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta but overturned by the Supreme Court in an unprecedented ruling that has sparked weeks of protest and acrimonious debate.
