NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 19 – The Orange Democratic Movement on Friday night cancelled Assistant Minister Oburu Odinga’s ‘win’ for the Siaya gubernatorial seat and instead summoned the former Bondo MP and his rival William Oduol to Nairobi.
According to the ODM elections board chairman Franklin Bett, county elections panel chairperson Monica Amolo did not follow the correct procedure when she declared Oburu the winner.
“None of the two has clinched the ticket. The returning officer has not followed the laid down procedure to satisfy me and the elections board. I have asked the two contestants to appear before the board with documents to back their claims tomorrow (Saturday) so that we can determine who between the two won,” Bett asserted.
Earlier the Prime Minister’s brother was declared winner of the Siaya governor’s position by the county elections panel chairperson Amolo who said he had 62,232 votes against Oduol’s 35,198.
The results were from four constituencies but omitted vote tallies from Gem and Alego Usonga, which supporters said are Oduol’s strongholds.
Observers had named Oduol the winner in the hotly contested elections with reports emerging as early as Thursday night that Oburu had lost the ticket.
Just before Oburu was declared winner Bett was issuing a directive in Nairobi for a repeat of the Siaya nominations following the ‘disappearance’ of the returning officer.
Bett said the board had replaced the Returning Officer for the process to be finalised, as efforts to trace the missing officer were made.
The elections board ordered that all party nominations which were being repeated be completed by midnight on Friday to ensure that candidates were not locked out of the March 4 elections.
Bett said they had been advised by the Independence Electoral Boundaries Commission that results received past midnight Friday would be illegitimate.
He at the same time appealed to voters in Kisumu, Migori and Homa Bay to observe sobriety and peace.
Bett also expressed concern over massive reports of harassment and intimidation of various returning officers following the highly contested ODM primaries.
