1 YEAR

The recent nullification of several parliamentary election results has exposed the massive irregularities that marked the 2007 polls.

The move has opened unhealed wounds among contestants, some of whom believe they were beaten unfairly.

Fingers have pointed at the defunct Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK), which many say performed dismally.

In Naivasha, there was confusion as to who the winner was until the results were announced in Nairobi.

During the elections, the returning officer gave contradictory results on the presidential votes.

The long wait

After the elections former area MP Jayne Kihara went to the High Court in Nakuru in February 2008 to challenge the election of John Mututho.

During the case, the presiding judge noted several anomalies though a recount put Mututho in the lead.

The Naivasha seat had attracted over ten aspirants and it took more than a year for many of them to know how many votes they got in the controversial elections.

According to one of the aspirants Mr John Kihara who contested on Agano party ticket, he did not know how many votes he garnered until the High Court ordered a recount.

"After the elections, the Returning Officer only announced Kihara and Mututho’s results," he says.

He says other candidates had contemplated going to court, but Kihara filed her petition first.

ODM candidate David Kinuthia also says he learnt about his performance as the case went on. Mwaniki, who was one of the witnesses in the poll petition, says there were irregularities in the election and blames the defunct ECK for the mess.

"There was confusion at the counting hall. Even now, I feel justice was not done," he says.

The civic elections were equally chaotic and some councillors say they have no idea how many votes they got. According to councillor Simon Wanyoike from Lake View ward, the returning officer was overwhelmed by his work.

Fixing results

After the polls, election materials were found torn and scattered near the defunct ECK offices the following morning.

"The returning officer called each of the councillors elect in his office and asked us how many votes we had received and those are the figures he recorded," Wanyoike said.

He says winners sat pretty only after their names appeared in the Kenya Gazzette. In Nakuru, anomalies were mainly in civic elections.

In four of the wards the party symbols were wrongly matched, causing confusion among voters. For example, the symbols used in the ballot boxes in four wards in Nakuru town for ODM belonged to ODM Kenya.

Four contestants went to court and the case will be determined next week. One of the petitioners claims the councillors were elected on a different party ticket and wants the elections nullified. ECK officials gave two contradicting figures.

In Mukurwe-ini where former Information Minister Mutahi Kagwe lost to Kabando wa Kabando, there was chaos prior to the announcement of the results.

In the ensuing melee, some ballot papers were set ablaze and boxes destroyed as claims of attempted rigging reined at Kiahungu Township where vote tallying was going on.

Kabando who vied on a Safina ticket garnered 23,865 votes against Kagwe of PNU who managed 22,065.