Raila Odinga: This is where my votes were stolen

Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga. [Kelly Ayodi, Standard] Azimio presidential candidate Raila Odinga has identified Bomet, Kiambu, Nyeri and Meru as the counties where his votes were stolen in favour of Deputy President William Ruto. Raila and his running mate Martha Karua in their petition at the Supreme Court challenging Ruto's win claimed the counties were the epicentre of the rigging scheme in the DP's perceived strongholds. The duo cite 41 polling centres in Kiambu and Bomet where their votes were allegedly deducted, added to Ruto's tally and the Forms 34A altered before being posted in the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) public portal. Besides the petition filed by Raila and Karua, seven other petitions have been filed in which the petitioners allege that systematic rigging and manipulation of votes in certain areas affected the integrity of the presidential election. They claim that the 2022 presidential election was so badly conducted that the illegalities and irregularities committed by IEBC in specific areas were of such a substantial nature that no court properly applying its mind to the evidence can validate the results. "In all the 41 polling stations in Bomet and Kiambu, Raila's votes were deducted and Ruto's votes increased by the same number while camouflaging the alterations as confirmed by different Forms 34A issued to our agents and those uploaded in IEBC portal," said the petitioners. As a result of the alleged deductions, Raila and Karua claimed they lost 2,793 votes from the 41 polling centres in Bomet and Kiambu, which were illegally added to Ruto. In Lurambi Constituency in Kakamega, the Azimio leader claimed their votes were systematically reduced by 100 votes in specific polling stations and the original Forms 34A altered by someone who had access to the IEBC portal. "The areas are part of the evidence we have to prove how hackers effectively stole thousands of votes from Raila and exaggerated the votes for Ruto with full knowledge of Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission chairman Wafula Chebukati," said Azimiuo lawyer Paul Mwangi. The Azimio team further cited eight counties, Kwale, Nyandarua, Nyeri, Kirinyaga, Turkana, West Pokot, Vihiga and Migori where the total number of presidential votes exceeded the number of other elective seats by 33,208 votes. Inflates votes In Othaya constituency, Raila and Karua claim that their presidential votes totalling 18,287 could not be accounted for when Chebukati declared that only 44,205 voted for the president while 61,879 voted for Senate and 62,492 for MP. IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati (centre) addresses aspirants at Bomas of Kenya on August 22, 2022. [Denish Ochieng, Standard] In North Imenti Constituency, the petitioners claimed Chebukati added Ruto 382 votes given that the voter turnout was 96,241 for all the other seats but the presidential was inflated to 96,623 votes. Raila and Karua have also cited 27 constituencies where the commission failed to tally the votes as contained in Forms 34A before declaring the final results. "At the time of declaring the final results of the presidential election, the commission had not received, uploaded and made publicly available for scrutiny on the public IEBC portal Forms 34A in the 27 constituencies," they claimed. The constituencies include Mvita, Matuga, Kilifi North, Bura, Fafi, Wajir North, Eldas, Mandera West, Tigania East, Mbeere North, Ndaragua, Kapenguria, Kacheliba, Narok North, Narok South, Narok West and Kajiado East Others were Kanduyi, Nyakach, Rangwe, Ndhiwa Suba North, Kuria East, Bomachoge, Borabu, Kitutu Chache North and West Mugirango. The Youth Advocacy Africa and Peter Kirika in their petition also raised the issue of discrepancy in total votes for the presidency and other elective seats in Nyeri, Nyandarua, Muranga, Kirinyaga, Kiambu, Laikipia, Tharaka Nithi, Embu, Nakuru, Lamu, Kajiado and Nairobi. According to their lawyer Njoki Mboche, analysis of the 12 counties showed that 5,009,871 votes were cast for the president while all the other seats attracted 4,669,068. "It means that a total of 340,803 people voted in the presidential election in the 12 counties but did not vote within the same polling stations for the other seats. This is not possible since all voters were issued with six ballot papers," said Mboche. The conflicting voter turnout figures, the petitioners claim, also contributed to the bungling of the presidential election. Azimio's claim is that at 4pm on August 9, election day, IEBC announced that the voter turnout was fairly low at an average of 52 per cent but the following day, Mr Chebukati announced that the total voter turnout as captured in the Kiems kits was 65.4 per cent equivalent to 14,466,779 voters. "The chairman even indicated that the number would go high after factoring in manual voters but contrary to the stated figures, he announced a final figure of 14,213,137 votes. It means he cannot account for over 250,000 votes," said Mwangi. Raila Odinga and his running mate Martha Karua at the Supreme Court to challenge William Ruto's win. [File, Standard] As declared by the Supreme Court in 2017 that voting is a process that starts with the registration of voters, the petitioners have attacked the voter register as another area which perpetuated the rigging. Electoral malpractices Human rights activists Khelef Khalifa, George Osewe, Ruth Mumbi and Grace Kamau in their petition claim the voter register contributed to electoral malpractices. The activists, through their lawyer Willies Otieno, claimed that IEBC allowed 487,711 "ghost" voters to take part in the presidential election thereby undermining the process. Raila, Karua further cited the postponement of governor elections in Mombasa and Kakamega counties as a basis for rigging. They argued that being strongholds of the Azimio leader, IEBC deliberately mixed up voting materials to occasion postponement thus de-motivating their supporters to turn up and vote. According to the petitioners, the postponement caused Raila more than 100,000 votes after the voter turnout in Mombasa reduced from the expected 56 per cent to 44 per cent while in Kakamega it reduced from the expected 72 per cent to 62 per cent.

Raila Odinga: This is where my votes were stolen

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