Kenya election: Vote counting underway

PIC: Polling station officials count the ballots at a polling station in Archers Post, Samburu County. (AFP)

KENYA ELECTIONS

Vote counting got underway in several parts of Kenya Tuesday evening following close of polling at the official time: 5pm EAT.

But at some polling stations, voting continued, including those that had been hit by delays.

Voters found already in the line by 5pm were allowed to remain in the queue to go on and cast their ballots, national electoral body IEBC told reporters in one of many updates to come at Bomas of Kenya.

Bomas of Kenya is the national tallying center for the general elections.

Meanwhile, those who started late would be compensated the same amount of time they had lost, said IEBC chairman Wanyonyi Wafula Chebukati.

For voting delays, Upper Turkana was particularly affected, including the areas of Turkana North, Central Turkana, and others.

This edition of the general elections has been headlined by the presidential race rivalry between incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta of Jubilee Party and Raila Odinga of The National Super Alliance (NASA).

Six other candidates are also in the race to State House.

Besides voting for a new president, Kenyans also chose governors, lawmakers, senators, county officials and women's representatives.

In fact, to iron out confusion, each ballot paper was a different colour, with a corresponding ballot box.

The IEBC said that despite a "few technical hitches", they were happy with how the voting phase of this election process had gone, calling it a "watershed moment" in the nation's history of management of elections.

It was revealed that many of the delays were brought about by "adverse weather conditions" that saw a vehicle transporting election materials get stuck in a swamp, before employing the services of a helicopter to complete the task.

The commission thanked Kenyans for putting confidence in them to conduct this high-stakes general election and also thanked all voters, especially first-time voters for participating in polling.


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