The ongoing tallying of votes across the country is laying bare the dwindling political fortunes of ANC party leader Musalia Mudavadi as his party suffered defeat in several key seats and the presidential vote.
Not only did his party lose to UDA in his home constituency, but Mr Mudavadi was unable to deliver the Vihiga County presidential vote to Kenya Kwanza Alliance candidate William Ruto.
Voters in Vihiga County gave Azimio la Umoja presidential candidate Raila Odinga 143,371 votes representing 63.7 per cent of the valid votes in the county.
On the other hand, Mr Ruto, who the ANC leader was supporting, had 79,722 votes or just about 35.4 per cent of the votes.
By last evening, all indications were that ANC was set to lose the gubernatorial and senator positions to Mr Odinga’s ODM party as incumbent governor Wilbur Otichillo and Senate candidate Godfrey Osotsi were headed for victory.
Already, ANC has lost to ODM in the Vihiga County assembly after clinching the majority of MCAs. ODM had won a total of 10 while ANC will likely end up with six MCAs.
Mr Mudavadi’s party has won three of the five parliamentary seats in Vihiga. His home constituency was won by UDA candidate Clement Sloya with 23,925 while Dr Emmanuel Ayodi of ANC managed 10,539.
Weta’s celebrations
On the other hand, Mr Mudavadi’s partner in Kenya Kwanza Alliance and Ford Kenya leader Moses Wetang’ula was celebrating after posting stellar results in Bungoma County.
Of the nine parliamentary seats in Bungoma, Ford Kenya took four. Besides, Mr Wetang’ula retained his Senate seat while the party also won the governor’s seat through Senate Speaker Ken Lusaka.
Ford Kenya rounded up the county positions with Woman Rep Catherine Wambilyanga retaining her seat.
When details of the Kenya Kwanza Alliance agreement were made public – that Mr Mudavadi and Mr Wetang’ula needed to bring 70 per cent of the Western vote to partake of the goodies they were promised – the two laughed off the target as too low.
“Mimi na Wetang’ula tuko hapa. Ingo imeshona. 70 per cent ni kidogo. Tutaleta 90 per cent (Wetang’ula and I are here and we have consolidated our home. Seventy per cent is too low. We will deliver 90 per cent,” Mr Mudavadi had boasted.
That bubble has been burst by the voters who ensured that Mr Mudavadi not only missed the target in his home county by far but ended up losing his home constituency to Dr Ruto’s UDA.
Even in Bungoma County where Mr Ruto is leading according to interim results, Kenya Kwanza was at 63.4 per cent of the presidential vote.
Mr Wetang’ula, however, was in a celebratory mood yesterday after his party’s strong showing, especially in Bungoma.
Speaking to the press at the Kanduyi Constituency tallying centre when he accompanied Mr Lusaka to receive his certificate, the Ford Kenya leader expressed his satisfaction with the results so far adding that the team had run an effective campaign to ensure that they deliver as per the Kenya Kwanza agreement – that Bungoma delivers 70 per cent to the coalition.
“I think what we agreed with our presidential candidate William Ruto is that we deliver 70 per cent to the coalition and indeed we have managed to do so,” Mr Wetang’ula said.
A look at the interim distribution of parliamentary seats in the four counties of Bungoma, Kakamega, Vihiga and Busia shows that Mr Odinga’s ODM will have 16 members of the National Assembly, a senator and two woman representatives.
In contrast, Mr Mudavadi’s party could end up with a paltry five National Assembly seats – three in Vihiga and two in Kakamega. The Vihiga Woman Rep seat was yet to be settled by the time of going to press.
But incumbent Beatrice Adagala of ANC was facing stiff competition from Violet Bagada of UDP.
In terms of governors, ANC will likely end up with none in the region while ODM is currently on course to win in Busia and Vihiga counties.
The election for governor in Kakamega was suspended following a mix-up in the ballot papers. It will now be held on August 23 and ODM is hoping to win that too.
The four senate positions will be distributed among ODM in Vihiga (Mr Osotsi), UDA in Kakamega (Dr Boni Khalwale), Ford Kenya in Bungoma (Mr Wetang’ula) and National Reconstruction Alliance (NRA) in Busia (Okiya Omtatah).
