Described as one of the hotly contested by-election in Kenya, marred with pockets of violence, voter bribery claims, and arrests of leaders like former senator for Machakos Johnson Muthama in Msambweni, the results are finally out and ODM has been rained on.
In the results announced by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, IEBC, an independent candidate Feisal Badar has won the hotly contested Msambweni by-election beating ODM’s Omar Boga, bringing to an end a heated political week.
At 4 am on Wednesday, the IEBC tally showed that Feisal had 15,251 votes against Boga’s 10,444 votes from all the 129 polling stations. Initially, ODM had thrown all the machinery in Msambweni with the hope of carrying the day in the by-elections.
Wiper’s Abdurahman Sheikh was a distant third with 790 votes followed by Hamisi Mwakaonje Liganje(UGM) with 230 and Marere Wa Mwachai Mwarapayo(NVP) with 300. The race, however, was between Feisal and Boga with a faceoff between DP William Ruto and Raila Odinga behind the curtains.
The number of registered voters in the constituency are 69,003 with the by-election attracting 39.58 percent turnout. The morning hours were marred with confusion after some of the voters found out that their names were missing in the IEBC’s voters’ register.
The by-election which arose following the death of Suleiman Dori was seen as a battle between DP William Ruto and ODM leader Raila Odinga. Ruto threw his weight behind Feisal after the ruling Jubilee Party announced that it would not field a candidate.
The by-election has also been seen as a litmus paper for the ODM brigade who are currently drumming for the controversial Building Bridges Initiative (BBI). DP Ruto is yet to announce whether he is going to lead the NO campaign against the document.
However, with the violence and the bravado witnessed in Msambweni, political analysts say the general elections in the year 2022 might be more challenging than what people are thinking.
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