Bomet Governor Isaac Rutto's bid for supremacy in Rift Valley got a boost after his preferred candidate in the Nyangores ward by-election was declared the winner.
Andrew Maritim of the People's Patriotic Party of Kenya on Friday won the election garnering 4,988 votes in the polls seen as significant to gauging the influence of Jubilee Party in the region.
The JP candidate, Richard Leitich, who was campaigned for by a host of URP leaders with an endorsement from Deputy President William Ruto, came a close second with 3,029.
The Convention Party's Benard Terer managed only 52 votes.
Nyangores is situated in the vote-rich south Rift which overwhelmingly voted for the Jubilee alliance in the 2013 general elections.
With the evident fall-out between governor Rutto and DP Ruto, the by-election served as a platform for measuring political muscle ahead of the 2017 polls.
Maritim's supporters celebrated ahead of the official declaration of results by IEBC returning officer Alice Cheruiyot, moments after they had received provisional results from agents in the ward’s 30 polling stations.
The celebrations caused traffic snarl up along the Bomet-Narok highway for the better part of Friday night as supporters walked on foot from the tallying center to Bomet stadium two kilometers away.
Rutto will draw inspiration from Maritim's victory after having spent the entire electioneering period campaigning for the candidate.
The governor reportedly spent resources on infrastructural development in the ward and promised more goodies to the electorate if the PPPK candidate triumphed.
Rutto teamed up with MPs from Narok County, Knut secretary general Wilson Sossion and Kanu leaders to rally behind the PPPK candidate.
On the other hand, the Deputy speaker of the National Assembly Joyce Laboso mobilised more than 15 MPs and senators from Jubilee for the homestretch campaigns.
Rutto’s team is now focused on the Kericho seat and has vowed not to leave any stone unturned until they "snatch" the seat from Jubilee.
If the concluded by-election is anything to go by, then Deputy President William Ruto has a task in the South Rift region to convince residents to endorse the Jubilee administration for a second term in 2017.