Mohammed Ali Of Jicho Pevu Petition Approved As Nyali Parliamentary Elections To Be Repeated...

Nyali Parliamentary hopeful Mohammed Ali. He has successfully petitioned ODM to repeat primaries in Nyali which he alleges were marred by irregularities that denied him a win. [Photo: softkenya.com]

The ODM elections tribunal has handed ex-journalist Mohammed Ali a political lifeline.

This is after recommendations to ODM National Elections Board that they repeat the Nyali constituency primaries.

The tribunal, while making its recommendations on a petition presented before it by Ali, cited the primaries in Nyali were not fair and transparent as should be.

“We were able to deduce that there were irregularities which may have impacted on the results,” said the tribunal’s chair, Willis Otieno as told by the Star.

In his petition, Ali argued that his opponent Said Abdalla played foul to emerge the winner in the exercise.

He said that while Abdalla’s stations were up and running by

 7 

am, his polling station only opened at

 2 

pm and his supporters only allowed to vote up to

 3 

pm.

He also said that some agents he linked to Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho-Abdalla’s cousin came in to count the votes without asking for his permission.

The five-member tribunal in its ruling cited that by the fact Ali was not allowed to cast his vote together with his supporters, his right to vote was disenfranchised.

“This is a clear demonstration that there may have been the disenfranchisement of some voters in the constituency.”

“The late opening definitely impacted on the right of voters,” read the ruling in part. “The facts of intimidation at some polling stations may have affected the exercise of the elections.”

However, Abdalla’s supporters have protested the decision by the tribunal.

Ali had vowed to stay on course and throw his hat in the ring on August

 8 

polls as an independent candidate.