The announcement of results in the governor’s race in Narok North constituency turned chaotic after one candidate’s agent claimed the numbers had been switched.
A commotion ensued at Maasai Girls Secondary School when the results from the Naitupaki polling station were allegedly switched.
Mr Patrick Ntutu (UDA) had garnered 36 votes and Mr Moitalel Ole Kenta (ODM) 404, but the numbers were switched around when they were read out.
Mr Kenta’s agent, Mr Joel Nkurumwa, asked deputy returning officer Magdalyn Soita to read the carbon copy that was in the ballot box and compare the numbers on it with the results that were announced.
The copy confirmed that the votes had indeed been switched.
Other politicians, led by Senator Ledama Ole Kina, demanded that the results on form 34A be displayed on a screen for the sake of transparency.
“We demand that you display the results on the screen so that our agents can compare with what they have,” Mr Ole Kina said.
Irate agents demanded that the incident be investigated as police tried to calm them down.
Constituency Returning Officer Julius Okwetu excluded the disputed ballot box from tallying pending investigations.
“It is good that you have raised this matter so that I know. We have 190 polling stations in this constituency and I might not have had time to tour each of them to know what was happening,” he said.
He pledged to convene an urgent meeting with the agents of both candidates in a bid to resolve the matter, saying the disputed ballot papers had been secured in the box.
