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Johnson Sakaja satisfied with turnout after casting vote

Nairobi UDA gubernatorial candidate Johnson Sakaja casts his vote flanked by his son at St George's Primary School, Nairobi.

Photo credit: Esther Nyandoro | Nation Media Group

Nairobi senator Johnson Sakaja has cast his vote and expressed satisfaction with the voter turnout.

Speaking after casting his ballot at St George's Primary School in Dagoretti North constituency, the Nairobi UDA gubernatorial candidate said he was happy with the voter turnout and with how IEBC was conducting the polls.

"There is a bit of confusion but IEBC is doing its best. I was in one line because they said it was alphabetical starting with the first name, which is Johnson. But then when I got to the front, they told me there was a spillover of that line and I had to go to another one. I think a lot of that information should be available before people line up. Before I voted you saw there was an old man who had been here for a while and he had to go to another polling station. The directions were not very clear. A lot of that information should be available before people line up," he stated.

The electoral commission announced that 6,567,869 million Kenyans had turned up to vote by 12pm on Tuesday.

He added that reports from his secretariat showed that so far the polls were good with no out-of-the-ordinary experiences being witnessed.

Various polling stations

Mr Sakaja, however, claimed that some of his agents had been denied entry into various polling stations in the morning and urged IEBC officers to address questions on who gets access into the station by end of day.

"I urge the returning officer to address this issue before counting starts which is the most sensitive time to ensure we have the right teams in the halls," Mr Sakaja said.

He asked Kenyans who had returned home due to delays in various stations to go back and exercise their rights.

"All the stations are now voting. It's moving on very efficiently. So, if you give up because of that long wait, please I would urge you to just go back to that station and cast your vote. You know, your leaders determine, you know, how we live moving forward," he stated.

Mr Sakaja said that he was confident that the challenges experienced by IEBC would not change the outcome of the elections.

"I think Nairobians have decided and they've decided to soundly and for as long as this process remains free and fair, they'll be a very resounding and definitive result. It will not be 50/50 at the end of the day," he concluded.