The ODM National Election Board may be forced to cancel the Nyamira governor nomination if a petition by West Mugirango MP James Gesami is approved.
Gesami, who lost to Governor John Nyagarama in a tightly contested race on Wednesday, wants the exercise nullified over alleged massive irregularities.
Nyagarama was declared the winner after garnering 17,487 votes against Gesami’s 12,126 votes.
Gesami said most of his supporters were not allowed to participate in the nomination as their names were not in the membership register. He said in some centres voting did not take place at all.
“I am disappointed in the manner in which the nominations were conducted in Nyamira county. The exercise was marred with open and deliberate irregularities. This exercise was null and void,” says Gesami in his petition to Orange House on Wednesday.
The MP says in more than half of the polling stations, and particularly across Kitutu Masaba constituency, no elections were conducted.
“In places where the election took place, the registers were not authentic, given that they never had the party logo or seal,” Gesami says in his appeal letter to the NEB, chaired by Judy Pareno.
He says polling materials and election officials were all delivered by officers working in the Nyamira government and family members of the governor.
48-hour window
“The ballots were duplicated to aid rigging and were delivered in official county government vehicles,” he said.
Gesami says a number of ballot papers were recovered in some areas fully marked in favour of his opponent, malpractices that if proved would force the nullification of the results.
“In some places where the exercise happened, it went on late into the night without electricity,” he says.
According to nomination regulations, aspirants contesting results of primaries have 48 hours to lodge an appeal with the election board