KIRINYAGA, Kenya, Aug 9 — Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru on Tuesday expressed optimism over the voter turnout in the county following a slow start saying she is hopeful the numbers will go up before polls close.
Speaking after casting her vote at Kiamugumo Primary School in Gichugu constituency, Waiguru who is defending her seat on a United Democratic Alliance ticket, attributed the low voter turnout in early morning hours to the weather after heavy downpour on Monday night and Tuesday morning.
She cast her vote minutes to 2pm.
“It was abit quite in the morning, it was very cold. We are very close to the mountain. I think many people delayed until now. So the queues are very low . We hope they will make to vote all of them before closure,” she said.
The Governor noted a similar situation was witnessed in Mwea sub-county noting that it is the planting season and voters opted to go the farms first before going out to vote.
Waiguru called for free, fair and credible polls and committed to accept the outcome of the elections “if the exercise is conducted fairly”.
She further said that during the morning hours their agents encountered challenges in accessing polling stations due to lack of badges adding that the issue had since been resolved after reaching out to the electoral agency.
“We hope that even at the counting, we will continue like that. We hope our agents will be inside each polling station and that there will be no challenge of removing any of those agents. We want free and fair elections in Kirinyaga,” she said.