The Electoral and Nominations Dispute Resolution Committee of the United Democratic Alliance has declared the Nandi Hills parliamentary nominations null and void.
After receiving 10,363 votes, incumbent MP Alfred Keter was proclaimed the winner of the primaries held on Tuesday, defeating his fierce competitor Bernard Kitur, who received 7,468 votes.
Others seeking to unseat Keter included; Robert Chepkwony who got 2,539 votes, George Tarus 425 votes, Abraham Limo 540 and Irine Chemutai 388.
Kitur, on the other hand, took the nomination results to the dispute committee, where he highlighted a variety of points to show that the process had been tainted by fraud.
Keter was named as the first respondent in the case, while the National Elections Board was named as the second respondent.
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Kitur told the committee that there had been instances of ballot stuffing and delays in the transmission of results, which the committee agreed with.
Collins Kiprono, Mary Mungai, and Adrian Kamotho Njenga, members of the committee, concurred with Kitur that there were inadequate ballot papers in several polling stations, denying a majority of people the right to vote.
The committee questioned why only four candidates decided to have the election proceed despite a lack of ballot papers, excluding other candidates.
“We are satisfied that the allegations of ballot stuffing and delays in transmission have been proven. The same violates Articles 10, 15(5), (6) of the Rules, Articles 29 and 30 of the Constitution; Rules 5,9, 19, 20 and other provisions of the party code of conduct, and contravenes sections 3, 10, 11 and 20 of the Election Offences Act,” said the committee.
“The agreement to proceed with the nomination irrespective of insufficient ballot papers was made by the aspirants. We shudder to imagine where this authority was derived from. It clearly amounted to a usurpation of the role of the 2nd Respondent (returning officer).”
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The Committee also had a problem with Keter’s interim nomination certificate, which was signed at Kapsabet rather than the tallying center.
The tallying center was located in Nandi Hills’ Samoei High School.
The peculiarity, according to the committee, proves that the exercise was engulfed in illegalities that “went to the roof of the entire process.”
“We have considered the various submissions made by parties and the evidence before us. We are convinced beyond doubt that the allegations substantially affected the results and impeached the integrity of the outcome,” the committee said.
After reviewing the evidence, the committee determined that the anomalies had an impact on the election results, and so granted Kitur’s petition.
“A declaration be and is hereby issued that the decision of the returning officer declaring the 1st Respondent as the presumptive nominee for the position of Member of Parliament, Nandi Hills Constituency, is null and void.
“The matter has been referred to the National Elections Board for appropriate action.”
It is not clear the steps the party will take as the nomination window closed on Friday.
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