ODM leader Raila Odinga suffered a major blow on Saturday 6, 2019 after a candidate from a rival party David Ochieng won the Ugenya by-election. It was expected that the ODM would flag the victory for the Ugenya MP
Vote tallying ended early Saturday with Ochieng’s 18,730 votes earning the victory.
He vied on a Movement for Democracy and Growth (MDG) ticket.
Raila’s candidate, Christoper Karan (Orange Democratic Movement) emerged second with 14,507 votes.
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Acting CEO Marjan Hussein lauded Ugenya residents for their patience despite continuous KIEMS kits failure in parts of the county.
According to him, there was high voter turn out at 58 percent.
Number of registered voters stood at 57,603 while total votes cast were 33,342 and rejected ones 534.
Karan lost the Ugenya seat on March 1 last year after the High Court ruled that the election was not free and fair.
Ochieng was the petitioner and cited electoral malpractices.
Karan then moved to the Court of Appeal which overturned the nullification of his election on August 16.
However, a persistent Ochieng lodged another appeal at the country’s top court which again dealt a blow to Karan.
On December 21, the Supreme Court upheld the nullification of Karan as Ugenya MP and directed that fresh elections be conducted.