Edith Nyenze on the verge of clinching Kitui West MP seat

Edith Nyenze, wife of late MP Francis Nyenze, casts her vote at Kyondoni Primary School polling the Kitui West parliamentary by-election. PHOTO | BONIFACE KANYALI | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • With results from only 26 polling stations out of the constituency's 143 remaining, Mrs Nyenze had garnered 11264 votes.

  • Youthful independent candidate Mr Dennis Muli Mulwa was second after garnering 1682 votes.

  • Mr Robert Mutiso Leli of Narc Kenya was third with 1617 votes, while Dr Fridah Nyiva Mutui of Kenya Social Congress had 1,046 votes.

Mrs Edith Vethi Nyenze, widow of the late Kitui West MP Francis Nyenze, is on the verge of clinching the parliamentary seat.

Ms Edith Nyenze of Wiper Party took a commanding lead against her four competitors after results from 115 polling centres were announced on Monday evening. 

With results from only 26 polling stations out of the constituency's 143 remaining, Mrs Nyenze had garnered 11264 votes, which was 69.97 per cent of the votes cast according to the provisional results released by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

TRAILING

Youthful independent candidate Mr Dennis Muli Mulwa was second after garnering 1682 votes.

Mr Robert Mutiso Leli of Narc Kenya was third with 1617 votes, while Dr Fridah Nyiva Mutui of Kenya Social Congress had 1,046 votes.

Elijah Muimi Kilonzi of CCM was trailing with 448 votes.

The by election results were being transmitted manually from all polling stations to the constituency tallying centre.

Voter turnout in the election was a estimated to be below 25 per cent in the by-election.

EMPTY POLLING STATIONS

Constituency Returning Officer James Mbai confirmed that most polling stations remained empty as voters who turned up were too few to form a queue, with slight improvement in late afternoon.

Kitui Senator Enoch Wambua said Mrs Nyenze had won the seat even before the final results were declared by the electoral commission.

"I take this early opportunity to congratulate the MP-elect for Kitui West Mrs Edith Vethi Mwanzia Nyenze. I thank the people of Kitui West for conducting themselves with utmost dignity during the campaigns, voting and tallying exercises" he said in a statement to media on Monday evening. 

Mr Wambua also congratulated the other candidates 'for running their campaigns in the best way they could'.