Wiper nominations for three wards in Mwingi North, Kitui failed to start at 6am on Thursday due to delays in delivery of election materials.
Voters who arrived at various polling centres as early as 6am found neither the materials nor the official.
The party primaries were scheduled for Kyuso, Tseikuru and Ngomeni wards.
Kyuso subcounty headquarters was to serve as the central point where voting materials were to be collected and transported to various poling centres, some nearly 70kms away.
However, the materials had not arrived by 11am.
Reports of last minute withdrawal of the Returning Officer for Mwingi North did not help matters.
Two contestants for the primaries Stephen Musili and Eliud Ndinguri protested the delays.
They said many Wiper supporters had arrived at polling centres at 6am and were likely to give up and go home without voting.
Musili who is defending his Kyuso ward seat said he was informed by Wiper headquarters that the delay was caused by a breakdown of the printing press.
Ndinguri who is also defending his Ngomeni ward seat said he was told heavy rains caused the delay.
Musili said they also don't know who the Returning Officer for Mwingi North will be as Kinengo Katisya had quit.
He said no replacement had been declared by 10am on the nomination day.
The aspirant said there was also no communication on where the voting materials will be collected.
A spot check at Mwingi North subcounty office on Thursday morning revealed the place was under key and lock and conspicuously without any activity.
Musili said it was wrong for Wiper to conduct itself in such a manner.
He said such blunders only served to make the party unpopular.
The aspirant said very few people were interested in fighting for the ticket due to lack of confidence in the party.
The coordinator of the Wiper primaries in Kitui Waziri Baraka who did not explain the cause of the delays, urged voters to remain patient saying the election materials will eventually arrive.
(Edited by Bilha Makokha)
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