Counting Irregularities: 15 Constituencies Where Results Were Contested

While the nation's attention was fixed on the Supreme Court presidential petition, a quieter but equally consequential battle was playing out in Kenya's High Courts and magistrate courts. Over 200 election petitions were filed challenging results at every level — governor, senator, MP, and MCA. At least 15 constituencies had irregularities so significant that courts either ordered recounts, nullified results, or found evidence of deliberate manipulation.

The Scale of Disputed Results

To put the 2022 petition season in context:

• Presidential petition: 1 (dismissed by Supreme Court)
• Governor petitions: 12 filed across various counties
• Senator petitions: 8 filed
• MP petitions: 54 filed (out of 290 constituencies)
• MCA petitions: ~130 filed (out of 1,450 wards)

Of the MP-level petitions, courts nullified results in several constituencies and ordered fresh elections. The common threads across these disputes reveal systemic weaknesses rather than isolated incidents.

The 15 Most Contested Constituencies

1. Kuresoi South (Nakuru)

The MP race was decided by just 482 votes out of over 60,000 cast. The petitioner alleged that 23 polling stations had more votes cast than registered voters — a red flag for ballot stuffing. The court ordered a recount that revealed arithmetic errors on Form 35Bs but ultimately upheld the result.

2. Mombasa County (Governor)

Hassan Omar's petition alleged that over 8,000 votes were irregularly added during constituency-level tallying. The court found procedural violations but ruled they did not materially affect the outcome — Nassir's 93,000-vote margin was too large to overturn.

3. Embakasi East (Nairobi)

The sitting MP's petition alleged that his opponent received votes from phantom polling stations — stations that appeared on results forms but did not correspond to registered IEBC locations. The court found that 4 of the 187 stations had unexplained results discrepancies but declined to nullify given the margin.

4. Kitui Rural

The petition here centered on rejected ballots. With 3,247 rejected ballots and a winning margin of only 1,891 votes, the petitioner argued that improperly rejected ballots would have changed the outcome. The court reviewed a sample and found that approximately 40% of rejections were questionable but could not determine voter intent.

5. Mathare (Nairobi)

One of the closest races in the country — a margin of 291 votes — was contested on grounds of agent exclusion. The petitioner demonstrated that his agents were denied entry to 14 polling stations during counting, violating the Elections Act. The court nullified the result and ordered a fresh election.

6-15. Other Notable Disputes

Other constituencies with significant irregularities included:

• Isiolo North: Turnout of 89.4% raised eyebrows in a county with significant nomadic population — the court investigated but upheld results.
• Kwanza (Trans Nzoia): Allegations of pre-marked ballots found in the returning officer's vehicle.
• Magarini (Kilifi): Results forms from 7 stations had different figures on agent copies versus IEBC copies.
• Kamukunji (Nairobi): A margin of 412 votes with petition alleging non-citizen voting in Eastleigh's Somali community.
• Wajir South: Clan-based violence disrupted voting in 6 polling stations, with results from those stations still included in the final tally.
• Nyando (Kisumu): Despite 97%+ ODM votes, the MP race saw allegations of primary rigging bleeding into the general election.
• Belgut (Kericho): Independent candidate alleged systematic exclusion from tallying centers.
• Mogotio (Baringo): Form 35A discrepancies between polling station originals and constituency copies.
• Ndhiwa (Homa Bay): Court found evidence of double registration of voters at 3 stations but upheld result due to large margin.
• Machakos Town: A recount was ordered and conducted, ultimately confirming the original winner by a revised margin of 1,234 votes.

Common Patterns Across Disputed Constituencies

Analyzing these 15 constituencies reveals recurring vulnerabilities:

• Tallying center opacity: In 9 of 15 cases, the core allegation involved manipulation during constituency-level aggregation — not at the polling station.
• Form discrepancies: In 7 cases, the images uploaded electronically did not match physical copies — suggesting forms were altered after initial transmission.
• Rejected ballot abuse: In 4 cases, the rejected ballot count exceeded the winning margin, making ballot rejection standards potentially decisive.
• Agent exclusion: In 6 cases, party agents were either blocked from tallying centers or present but unable to verify calculations.

Why Independent Tallying Matters

Every one of these disputes could have been clarified — or prevented — with independent parallel vote tallying. When an independent system captures polling station results in real time, discrepancies between station-level data and constituency-level aggregation become immediately visible.

Votrack's parallel tallying platform is built for exactly this purpose. Request a demo to see how real-time independent verification works.