Election materials from Bobasi constituency were on Monday discovered in a ballot box from South Mugirango during a vote recount in court. Three copies of form 16A containing names of candidates from the neighbouring Bobasi constituency were retrieved.

The box contained the votes of three of the 17 candidates who contested the Mugirango South parliamentary seat.

In the same box, a partially used parliamentary ballot booklet was extracted as well as eight presidential and five civic ballot booklets from Bobasi constituency. South Mugirango returning officer Joseph Sanganyi insisted that the materials were carried by mistake.

Mr Onchari Otiso for Mr Manson Oyongo, the petitioner, observed that the box had no lid and had 32 blank form 16As, no marked voter register, and that none of the South Mugirango constituency parliamentary counterfoils were extracted to back the votes for the three candidates.

Ms Ruth Yator, the lawyer for assistant minister Omingo Magara, whose election is being challenged, concurred with Mr Otiso’s observations, saying there were discrepancies in the actual counting as votes for 14 candidates were not accounted for.

Different results

More irregularities continued to be unveiled, with a form 16A and 17A supplied by the Electoral Commission of Kenya for Marongo polling station bearing different results from those arrived at during the physical count.

In the recount, Mr Oyongo tallied 118 votes against the five reflected in forms 16A and 17A. Mr Magara was still leading yesterday in the recount with 6,022 votes. Mr Ochoi Ibrahim and Mr Oyongo had 3,551 and 3,120 votes respectively in 70 boxes.