Kamukunji: IIEC announces polls date

Written By:Kendagor Obadiah,    Posted: Tue, Aug 02, 2011

Brian Weke, the Narc-K candidate will be among six others who will be in the race for the much contested seat come August 18th The Kamukunji by-elections will now be held on 18th August 2011. The Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC) has picked the date after the High Court lifted an injunction on Friday last week barring the by-election from taking place. The announcement now sets in motion spirited campaigns which had reached their peak before the court injunction with only two weeks to go before the D-day. The spirited campaigns had reached fever pitch with candidates anticipating victory before Paul Waweru Mwangi who was aspiring for the seat won a court injunction over what presiding judge; Justice Musinga termed a flawed nominations process. The National Vision Party candidate filed a case arguing that he was unfairly blocked by the IIEC from handing in his nomination papers. But following last Friday's ruling by the High court where the IIEC was granted a green light to conduct the by-elections, the electoral body has now set the polling date on 18th of August. This announcement now sets the stage for campaigns which had been halted after the injunction. The IIEC list of contestants remains as it was before the court halted the exercise, which means, Waweru's ambitions could have been rendered futile. The battle now remains between Yussuf Hassan Abdi of PNU, ODM's Ibrahim Ahmed aka "Johnnie", Brian Weke of NARC-Kenya, Catherine Muthoni of GNU, James Matagaro of Kenya Social Congress, David Waihiga of Agano Party and Daniel Omao of Ford People.