WANJIRU DOWN BY 666

A vote recount for Starehe entered its second day on Thursday with the sitting Member of Parliament trailing by 666 votes.

Bishop Margaret Wanjiru had 328 votes against 994 garnered by Mr Maina Kamanda, her closest rival in the 2007 poll.

So far, only votes from City Primary School are being scrutinised. And, like on the first day, anomalies continued to emerge.

Two ballot papers bearing the name of one voter but belonging to different constituencies were found in one box. The papers were for Kamukunji and Starehe constituencies. More than 200 ballot boxes will be opened in the scrutiny. So far, only three have been opened.

The scrutiny of the votes was ordered after Mr Kamanda went to court to challenge Bishop Wanjiru’s win in the last parliamentary elections, citing irregularities.

On Wednesday, Mr Kamanda was in the lead with 407 votes while Bishop Wanjiru had 90. This puts the total votes recounted so far at 1,401 for Mr Kamanda and 418 for Bishop Wanjiru.

Mr Kamanda pleaded in his petition that the boxes be opened and votes recounted, saying the election was rigged through falsification of forms 16A.

The petitioner was a former Sports minister until he lost his parliamentary seat in the last elections.

Bishop Wanjiru, who is also Housing assistant minister and vied on an ODM ticket, beat PNU’s Mr Kamanda by 895 votes. The election, which led to violence that killed more than 1,000 people, was seen as the most contested. Out of the 39 petitions filed, some 25 have been dismissed on technicalities.

A recent ruling saw Transport minister Chirau Mwakwere lose his Matuga seat. Other pending petitions include Wajir South, where a scrutiny of votes has been ordered beginning March 1.