The United Democratic Alliance Party (UDA) has conducted a successful repeat of grassroots elections in Mombasa and Tana River counties.

The polls were managed by the National Elections Board (NEB) following technicalities experienced on April 11 and 12, when NEB conducted polls in 22 counties.

The NEB's board member Jimmy Kahindi is overseeing repeat polls in Garsen, Bura and Galole constituencies in Tana River county, while Mary Mutinga and Halake Dida are supervising the same in parts of Changamwe and Mvita constituencies in Mombasa county as party members elect their leaders.

The board officials said they have been impressed by the higher turnout in most of the polling stations.

Mutinga said the exercise has been peaceful since morning, with no cases of chaos or interruptions reported in Mombasa.

Polling centres affected are Bomu Secondary School in Port Reitz, Buxton Estate Hall in Tononoka, Koblenz Hall in Majengo, Serani Primary School in Mji wa Kale/Makadara and Kenya School of Government in Mji wa Kale/Makadara within Mombasa Island.

"The exercise is part of our ongoing commitment to ensuring a transparent, inclusive, and democratic party structure that truly reflects the will of our members on the ground," the UDA party official.

The ruling party conducted grassroots elections in 22 counties in April. The elections were conducted in two phases.

Phase 1 of the grassroots elections was conducted in Nairobi, Narok, West Pokot, Busia, Homa Bay, and Garissa counties.

Phase 2 polls were held on April 11 and 12.

On April 11, the UDA party held elections in Kitui, Makueni, Machakos, Kajiado, Taita Taveta, Kisii, and Nyamira.

On April 12, the ruling party conducted elections in Garissa, Tana River, Bungoma, Turkana, Migori, Kisumu, Siaya, Isiolo, Marsabit, Wajir, Mandera, Mombasa, Kilifi, and Lamu.

However, the process was halted and called off in some areas due to technicalities caused by gadgets and, in some cases, extreme weather conditions.

In the spirit of transparency and democracy, UDA opted to reschedule the elections for entered education.

The coast is known to be among the regions that are traditionally and predominantly the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party zones.

Perhaps riding on the pact President William Ruto signed with ODM leader Raila Odinga, UDA could be seeking to make inroads in the Raila-dominated areas as it widens its base ahead of the 2027 vote.

This would be in a bid to compensate for the losses in Mt Kenya, where the former deputy president, who is currently a chief adversary of Ruto, is having a significant following, which tends to massively subscribe to the latter's newly launched Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP).

Source: TUKO.co.ke