Jubilee Party Secretary-General Raphael Tuju. /Kenya TodayJubilee Party Secretary general Raphael Tuju has responded to the low voter turnout statistics in the Thursday repeat presidential poll
Speaking at the Jubilee Party centre at Pangani, Nairobi, Tuju dismissed claims that the low turnout –currently projected to be under 35%-meant President Uhuru Kenyatta’s victory would be trivial.
The former Rarieda MP said that most re-runs across the globe witness low numbers of voters and that it was not a surprise.
“The most recent one was the French run-up where the voter turnout was 36%. The American election had a turnout of 55.7% but the elected leaders are ruling their nations,” Tuju stated.
“Kenya has never had a repeat election, but this election was ordered by the Supreme Court and we had to do it as required by the law.”
“Turn out means nothing in that respect,” he said.
Tuju said that the Kenya’s election cycle has witnessed great turn outs every time Raila Odinga is in the poll equation, a narrative that failed to happen this October after he pulled out of the race.
He added that since Raila had withdrawn his candidature, both “Raila-mania and Raila-phobia” voters also failed to participate in the poll. Tuju claimed that it is probable that all voters who are anti-Raila presidency failed to get interest in the just concluded re-run.
He rubbished NASA claims that the Thursday poll was a no confidence vote for the Jubilee while responding to questions from a K24 journalist over the party's trail of events as the tallying process continues.