HOW ODM’S KARIUKI WON THE MATHARE BY ELECTION

ODM candidate Steven Kariuki has won the Mathare parliamentary seat in a hotly contested by-election, beating former MP George Wanjohi of TNA and seven other contestants. It was a sensational victory for the youthful son of former Mathare MP Bishop Margaret Wanjiru who managed to stave off a strong TNA onslaught to claim the seat.

Kariuki was nearly declared then MP for Mathare in last year’s March 4 elections, when the returning officers erroneously handed him the winner’s certificate, only to have it revoked and given to Wanjohi. Kariuki garnered 14,966 votes to beat his close challenger Wanjohi by 900 votes in a race that at one time appeared like it could have gone either way.
Wanjohi managed 14,082 votes. Former Kasarani MP William Omondi Opondo, running as an independent candidiate finished a distant third with 194 votes while journalist Nixon Kavai Inziria, also an independent candidate, was last with a paltry 11 votes. Other candidates were Crispus Fwamba Nyangali (Maendeleo Democratic Party) 66, Muthoni Macharia Mariam (Independent) 39 , Sammy Jentro Mudanya (Progressive Party of Kenya ) 37, Barack Blasto Obat (Independent) 19 and Billian Ojiwa (National Labour Party with 15 votes.
Voting in the Mathare by-election in Nairobi County, that harbours one of the most densely populated slums, had started on a slow note, characterised by low voter turnout. A spot check across some of the 115 polling stations in the slum and in the middle-class areas of the constituency showed a handful of voters on queues by 6am when voting kicked off, with the trend remaining largely the same all morning, until later afternoon when more people were seen walking in to cast votes.
The seat fell vacant following the nullification of George Wanjohi’s win by the Supreme Court, which ruled there had been massive irregularities in the March 4, 2013 election. Successful petitioner, Kariuki, turned up at Ndururuno Primary School polling station at around 8am to vote while Jubilee’s Wanjohi voted at the Valley Bridge Primary at around 9am.
After voting Kariuki alleged his opponent had circulated leaflets overnight that purported to show he (Kariuki) had bowed out of the race. Kariuki, however, noted the exercise was going on well, and especially commended the use of the electronic voting kit. The Electronic Voter Identification Devices were used in each polling station, with transmission of provisional results done electronically to the main IEBC tallying centre.