KIAMBU, Kenya July 16 – Jubilee Party has suffered another shock defeat in the Kiambaa Parliamentary by-election losing to the United Democratic Alliance (UDA), a party associated with Deputy President William Ruto.
UDA’s candidate John Njuguna emerged victorious in the high stake mini-poll after gathering 21, 773 votes followed by his closest competitor Kariri Njama of Jubilee Party who managed 21, 263 votes.
The votes difference between the two was 510.
Evans Wainaina of the People Party of Kenya (PPK) came in third with a paltry 80 votes.
Njuguna who made his debut in politics through this by-election was overcome by emotions when the final results were confirmed by the IEBC Returning Officer.
“I want to thank God this has been tough but we have overcome. I thank my party and the Deputy President for their support. I want to tell people that the hustler nation is real and I became their candidate even without being known, hustler nation is real,” he said.
MPs Ndindi Nyoro (Kiharu), Kimani Ichung’wa (Kikuyu) and former State House digital strategist Dennis Itumbi thanked the Kiambaa constituents for believing in the hustler nation.
Njuguna becomes the first Member of the National Assembly from the UDA party.
Chaos had earlier erupted at the tail end of the counting exercise of the votes at the main tallying centre at Karuri High School where Jubilee supporters protested the outcome of the results and demanded a recount of the votes.
The supporters who were led by Njama, in particular, demanded that the recount be done in Kawaida and Muchatha polling centres where they alleged vote-rigging.
This prompted the IEBC Returning Officer Peter Muhia to temporarily suspend the vote tallying, with one centre remaining.
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