By Elections On

The Shinyalu and Bomachoge by-elections kicked off Thursday morning with various polling stations recording a low voter turnout.

In Shinyalu, only 40 people had cast their votes 3 hours after voting began at 6am.

Many voters were however turned away after the names on their Identification documents failed to match those on the voters registers.

Several aspirants and constituents claim that the anomalies are due to a faulty registration process.

PNU's Patrick Chungani and ODM's Kizito Mugali are the frontrunners in the race that has 11 candidates vying for the seat.

Bomachoge

In Bomachoge, polling stations opened on time and no ugly incidences were reported despite fears that the polls might be flawed after the area's Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC) offices were razed on Tuesday night.

PNU's Joel Onyancha is battling it out with ODM's Simon Ogari.

The Bomachoge seat fell vacant after the High Court ruled in favour of a joint petition by aspirants Simon Ogari and Zephania Nyangwara against the election of immediate former National Heritage Assistant Minister Joel Onyancha as area MP.

The Shinyalu seat fell vacant following the death of former MP Charles Lugano Lilechi in May at Nairobi Hospital where he was undergoing treatment.

Bomachoge has 46,761, voters who were registered afresh compared to 70,349 registered for the 2007 General Election. Shinyalu has 35,271 voters who registered compared to 69,395 at the 2007 General Election.

Local and International observers are closely monitoring the first election to be conducted by the newly installed electoral body.

The commission has warned parliamentary aspirants and their supporters that those involved in electoral malpractices including violence, voter bribery or incitement would be arrested and prosecuted.