Grassroots elections held by the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) in several counties are moving forward smoothly, despite some logistical challenges, according to Kithure Kindiki.
During an update on the ongoing process, Kindiki mentioned that the party waived registration fees to encourage more grassroots members to participate in the leadership contest at the polling station level.
He explained that this decision aimed to ensure broader involvement and make the elections more competitive.
“We decided to waive the registration fees to ensure that as many grassroots members as possible who aspire to leadership positions in the party can take part at the polling station level,” Kindiki said.
The polling station elections will be followed by ward-level polls across all 1,451 wards in the country. Party members will elect additional officials to represent them locally.
Kindiki noted that the exercise has generally progressed well across many areas, although some polling centers faced delays in opening due to logistical problems.
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Challenges included delays in delivering digital voting gadgets and transport issues caused by ongoing rains, which made some roads hard to navigate.
To tackle these challenges, the party used quicker methods for delivering equipment, including motorbikes instead of vehicles, to ensure that polling stations received the necessary gadgets on time.
He also acknowledged that, in a few instances, some candidates’ names were missing from the digital database due to incomplete registration details.
Where technology issues impacted electronic voting, the party used manual registers as a backup, allowing the process to continue.
Kindiki praised the turnout of voters so far, despite poor weather in some areas, and expressed confidence that more members would participate later in the day.
He also highlighted the technology used in the exercise, noting that the digital voting system allows party members to cast votes quickly and send results electronically.
According to him, results from polling stations should arrive at the national level within minutes after voting ends, as the system transmits results directly without needing physical forms.
However, the exercise was overshadowed by a tragic incident, where a polling center official collapsed and died while on duty. Preliminary reports suggest the official may have suffered a heart attack.
Kindiki expressed the party’s condolences to the deceased’s family and stated that the party would support them during this difficult time.
Aside from this incident, he reported no cases of violence during the elections so far.
He warned that any candidate or supporter who attempts to use violence, intimidation, or any form of misconduct to affect the election results would face strict disciplinary action from the party.
“We have made it clear that anyone who engages in violence or intimidation to push their interests will face severe consequences,” Kindiki said.
The elections are currently happening in 18 counties, covering about 9,000 polling centers, with nearly 500,000 candidates competing for around 150,000 grassroots leadership positions.
Kindiki stated that this exercise marks an important step in strengthening internal democracy within the party as it gets ready to move on to the next phase of ward-level elections across the country.
