Kenya presidential race: Ruto beats Raila in own polling station
Kenya's Deputy President (DP) William Ruto trounced his archrival Raila Odinga of Azimio la Umoja One Kenya at the polling station where he voted on Tuesday.
At the Kosachei Primary School polling station in Turbo constituency, the DP got 460 votes against 12 votes of his main competitor Mr Odinga in President Uhuru Kenyatta's succession race.
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Out of the 592 registered voters, only 472 came out to vote on Tuesday. There was no spoilt vote according to vote tallying process which took place immediately after the polling stations were closed at 5PM.
This means that at a polling station where the country's second in command arrived two minutes before the official opening of the stations, 120 people did not turn out to vote.
Dr Ruto voted very early in the morning to psyche those who had second thoughts in regard to voting and his move succeeded in encouraging approximately over 80 percent people to vote.
With the voter turnout being an issue in Tuesday's election hence the push to encourage large turnout in areas perceived to be his strongholds, Dr Ruto said because of his stature, and political clout he felt voting during the day would become an unnecessary inconvenience to those who would be in the lines.
"Many people are wondering why I have come so early, in the campaign trail, we made a commitment to our supporters that we will do this early," said DP Ruto.
A spot check by the Nation on Tuesday across Turbo constituency established that in some polling stations like Besiebor one, two and three, poll officials were idle by half past midday something which was attributed to low voter mobilisation.
The elderly people also faced a lot of challenge since they could not use their fingerprints to be identified through KIEMS kits facing the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) officials to resort to Alphanumeric search.
Lowest turn out
Across the country, the Commission announced that only 56.17 percent translating to around 12,065,803 registered voters turning out.
The is was the lowest turnout ever witnessed in the country since the promulgation of the 2010 Constitution.
The political pundits have argued that the two presidential frontrunners- Dr Ruto and Mr Odinga failed to create enthusiasm for the electorates to feel the urge of participating in an election.
Credit: Nation.co.ke
