Controversial NASA-allied politician Babu Owino is in narrow
lead against Jubilee Party candidate Francis Mureithi as vote recount continues
in Embakasi East Constituency.
We have reliably learned that Owino has garnered 32,410
votes. His fierce competitor Mureithi has 27,461 votes with 77 polling stations
left to go as of Saturday, February 17.
The latest reports indicate that votes have been recounted
in 130 out of 207 polling stations. The remaining polling stations will be
completed on Monday, February 19.
As was indicated in previous reports, Owino's election
victory is being challenged by the Jubilee Party candidate, Mureithi, who filed
the petition on September 7, 2017.
Mureithi also filed an application seeking to have a vote
recount and provided evidence of gross abuse of the electoral process, which he
argued gave Owino an unfair advantage.
he court also previously heard that IEBC officials made
errors during tallying and that Owino could have possibly voted more than once
in different streams. After the prolonged hearing, the High Court on Monday,
February 12, ordered for vote recount in the affected constituency.
Owino has consistently held that he won the election fairly
and even accused senior Jubilee Party leaders of fighting him because of his
political stand. It would be interesting to see what will happen next should he
lose his parliamentary seat. With 77 polling stations left to go, it's still
too early to conclude.
