Karauri likely to be Kasarani MP
By Nancy.Gitonga, August 10, 2022
Gaming giant SportPesa chief executive Ronald Karauri is on the verge of becoming the victor in the hotly contested Kasarani parliamentary seat race.
By yesterday evening, the provisional results indicated that Karauri had garnered 10,546 votes and was likely to unseat incumbent MP Mercy Gakuya. Karauri contested for the seat as an independent candidate after failing to clinch the Jubilee ticket. Results announced by the Kasarani Constituency Returning Officer Amos Nyongesa show Karauri was closely followed by John Njoroge of UDA with 9234 votes, translating to a difference of about 1302.
On the other hand, Gakuya garnered 7641 votes being the third while followed by 13 other candidates.
By evening 80 of the 240 polling stations had submitted ballot papers and boxes at the Constituency tallying centre in Kasarani Stadium confirming delays in the tallying process.Nyongesa asked Kasarani residents to be patient and allow him and other IEBC officials to finalise tallying before the official results are declared and a certificate of victory handed to the winner.
In Nairobi County’s Starehe Constituency the late release of votes was causing jitters and uneasiness among candidates and their supporters.
A spot check showed a number of presiding officers carrying ballot papers queuing outside the tallying centre waiting to be admitted.
Jubilee Party Candidate Amos Mwago Mwangi raised concerns that the process of counting the votes was taking too long.
The Constituency has 259 polling centres and is considered integral since the Central Business District of Nairobi sits within it.