Former Kisumu North MCA Elisha Oraro has been elected speaker of the Kisumu county assembly after winning 47 votes.
Oraro was until this week the acting speaker and resigned officially as MCA to contest the Friday election.
He takes over from Onyango Oloo who was impeached after being charged with corruption.
It was a walk in the park for Oraro after his opponent lawyer Kenneth Amondi withdrew from the race.
Oraro confirmed he had officially resigned as MCA in order to contest the elections. He said he had complied with all legal requirements to vie for the position of the substantive speaker.
Amondi who had been lobbying for support both from the MCAs and the ODM party officials said he had to withdraw his candidature for the sake of unity.
"The Kisumu county government including the assembly is greater than any individual hence the need to retain the peace. As such, I opted out," Amondi said.
His withdrawal followed the endorsement of Oraro's candidature by the Kisumu county ODM officials who said the former MCA was fit and capable of leading the assembly.
Amondi said he had to accept the party decision.
“Within Kisumu county assembly, more than 98 per cent are ODM members and now that the party has whipped its members then that's it,” he said.
The MCAs had promised to back Oraro for the seat, saying they wanted to support one of their own.
