ODM party nominations in Kisumu North Ward in readiness for a by-election were marred by delays in opening of polling centres and names missing on the party list.
While the party had said the stations would be opened yesterday at 6am, this was not the case. The balloting started at 9am eliciting protests from some candidates.
The party's National Elections Board (NEB) chair, Prof Catherine Mumma and returning officer Geoffrey Magak, however, extended the closing time to cover up for the loss.
"We adjusted the timelines to allow as many voters as possible cast their ballots," said Prof Mumma. Five aspirants; Thomas Kotieno, Ramadhan Bilali, Samuel Dede, former MCA Caroline Owen, and former councilor Bernard Obewa are seeking the ODM ticket. The ticket is premium for anyone vying for a political seat in the region.
Kisumu North has 16,000 registered voters who remained unrepresented after their MCA, Elisha Oraro was elected Assembly Speaker last year. At least 15 presiding officers and 30 polling clerks were lined up for the primaries.
Prof Mumma admitted that the board experienced technical challenges in transportion, which delayed the arrival of ballot papers at some polling stations. Some of the presiding officers and polling clerks also failed to turn up.
"We had to a make decision in the morning to recruit new presiding officers and clerks for replacement," she said.
One of the candidates, Kotieno, said his name was missing in the party register, nearly paralysing the early voting when he led his supporters in confronting poll officials to demand answers.
The officials had to liaise with the party headquarters at Orange House and Prof Mumma to have the setback sorted. Several voters also complained of their names missing from the register.
Prof Mumma was quick to own up that the challenge happened because the party had not validated and updated its voters register.
"Some of the lessons learnt will guide us in sorting out the challenges including and not limited to updating the register," she said.
She clarified that they had to use their own list to conduct the primaries as opposed to the IEBC register.
IEBC officials who supervised the exercise blamed ODM for failure to consult them to get the validated register of voters in the ward.
"We have a list of all registered voters in Kisumu North. ODM never asked for it," said Kisumu West IEBC Returning officer Dennis Omari.
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