Voting in the Bungoma senatorial mini-election kicked off on a low key as residents begin casting their votes for a new Senator.
With maximum security, polling stations opened at 6 a.m.
Even so, as of 8:30 a.m., very few people had shown up to vote for their preferred candidates.
The mini-election comes after Moses Wetangula was appointed speaker of the National Assembly.
According to Kanduyi constituency returning officer Stanley Kipkore, ballot boxes were distributed in 242 polling centers on Wednesday, with 118,347 registered voters expected to vote today.
Several candidates and elected leaders, including Ford Kenya candidate Wafula Wakoli, UDA candidate Mwambu Mabonga, and DAP-K candidate Wafula Wamunyinyi, have already voted.
At 6.40am Mabonga dropped his ballot at Mwiyenga Primary School (Bumula) as Wetang’ula’s voted at Namakhele primary in (Kabuchai) at 6.41am.
Wamunyinyi closed the list of those who cast their ballots before 8am after he voted at 7.15am at Ranje Primary School in Kanduyi constituency.
The Senate Speaker, Moses Wetangula, has lamented the low voter turnout, urging voters to exercise their democratic right to vote for their preferred candidate.
“Maybe it’s too early to judge but by the look of things the turn out is going to be low but we are positive that with the vigorous mobilisation we have done people will come out and exercise their democratic rights,” he said.
At least 646,612 registered voters are expected to elect their senator today in a contest that boiled down to a three-horse race pitting Mabonga who is supported by President William Ruto, Wamunyinyi backed by opposition leader Raila Odinga and Wafula Wakoli of Ford-Kenya backed by Speaker Wetang’ula and Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi.
The IEBC county returning officer Grace Rono says that this being a by election the low turn out is expected.
‘You know this is not like a general election where everyone participates,but we urge Bungoma residents to come out in large numbers and vote because worver wins will reflect on how the county performs,”said Rono.
