Registered voters in the on-going Embakasi South by-elections have expressed confidence that the process which kicked off Friday morning will produce credible results.
A section of the voters who turned up as early as 5am described the exercise as seamless.
“I woke up at 5.00am. I came and voted at that time in the exercise which is proceeding smoothly, and everything is okay,” one voter stated.
“Many people have not yet come to vote. Maybe they are working or are elsewhere. I expect that the leader I will choose will construct good roads here.”
“I want to thank the IEBC officials in this exercise because they have a good arrangement and have even made provision for the disabled by giving them priority,” another one stated.
The voters will be picking who among 15 candidates cleared by the electoral agency will represent them in the National Assembly.
This is after the parliamentary seat that fell vacant in December last year after a successful petition filed by ODM’s Irshad Sumra challenging Julius Mawathe’s win during the 2017 General Elections.
Speaking from Villa AA Grounds, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Chairman Wafula Chebukati urged Kenyans in the three electoral areas of Embakasi South, Ugenya and Lelani Ward to turn up to exercise the democratic right of choosing their preferred leader.
Some of the constituents said their choice will be driven by a candidate who is focused on creating employment opportunities for the youth, security, sponsoring development projects such as good roads, trading areas that will open the area which is partly an informal settlement.
The By-Election Returning Officer Abdikadir Abdullahi assured voters of a smooth and seamless exercise noting that the poll clerks in the constituency’s 221 polling centres have been trained on how to use the 300 Kenya Integrated Election Management System kits deployed in the densely populated area with a total of 150,314 registered voters