ODM Coast primaries scheduled for today pushed to tomorrow

ODM National Elections Board chair Judy Pareno.

A repeat of ODM primaries scheduled to take place April 28 in Mombasa County has been rescheduled to April, 29 following a hitch in ballot paper names. The repeat exercise was planned for 19 polling stations in 6 wards in the coastal region.

“There is a mix up in the names on the ballot papers hence the calling off of the exercise by the NEB commissioner in charge of the exercise Edward Nyale,” read a statement by ODM Director of Communications Philip Etale.

Previously the exercise had been heavily disrupted by aspirants leading to chaos. The confusion caused irregularities in the tallying process hence posing difficulties in determining the winners.  Aspirants will battle it out for the parliamentary seats, Women Rep slots and Senatorial positions. Some of the wards affected by the chaos included Bokole Nursery, Mwidani Social Hall, Al-Irshadi Nursery, Kiembeni Baptist, Mtopanga Primary, Concordia Primary, Nasa Junior Academy, Greenfields Academy, IFC Church, Mishomoroni Junior Mwandoni Play among others. 

A chain of dramatic scenes and reports of immense irregularities characterized ODM nominations in some parts of Mombasa, forcing a number of the candidates to appeal to the ODM National Tribunal.

 Former Journalist and Nyali Member of Parliament aspirant Mohammed Ali appealed to the tribunal contesting the issuance of an interim certificate to Said Abdallah following alleged tallying irregularities and voter bribery.

ODM city primaries which had been planned for last Tuesday was also pushed to Sunday after it emerged that a rival group of ODM Nairobi branch had engaged in theft of ballot papers leading to cancellation.

The group broke into ODM’s warehouse in Industrial Area before the nomination exercise kicked off.

The party’s Acting Secretary General Agnes Zani assured the public and aspirants of a free and fair nomination exercise.