This archive report was first published on 16 July 2021.
On July 16, 2021, the Kiambaa by-election took a dramatic turn as Jubilee Party electoral agents alleged vote-rigging, citing irregularities in the results from three polling stations.
According to provisional results, UDA candidate John Njuguna Wanjiku was leading Jubilee's Njama Karanja Kariri by 244 votes, with 21,301 votes to Kariri's 21,057 votes out of 152 polling stations reporting.
However, Kariri's team at the tallying centre alleged that votes in the last three polling stations – Gachie, Mucatha, and Kawaida – were being tilted in favour of Njuguna, prompting Kariri to demand a recount of the votes.
As a result, a heated stand-off ensued, with the Returning Officer, Peter Muigai, struggling to control the opposing sides. Muigai later admitted an error in vote tallying and pledged to conduct a recount.
Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria faulted Jubilee Party electoral agents for protesting the results, saying it was ridiculous for a ruling party to refuse to concede defeat.
The valid votes counted as of the time of publishing this story were 42,611, representing a voter turn-out of 44.79 per cent. Kiambaa has 96,020 registered voters.
