George Okode is the Siaya county assembly speaker .
He was declared the winner in round one after garnering 38 votes against his closest challenger Evans Oruenjo, who got two votes.
Okode clinched the speaker's position for a third uninterrupted term during the election conducted in the first sitting of the new assembly on Tuesday.
Okode, a lawyer by profession, comes from Rarieda subcounty and was first elected to the position in the first assembly in 2013.
The house convened at 9am, with acting clerk Erick Ogenga laying on the table two Gazette notices listing all the elected and nominated members of the third assembly.
The next order of business was the administration of and affirmation of oath of office to the 40 members of the assembly in alphabetical order, beginning with members living with disabilities, followed by the longest-serving members.
Sigomre ward representative Andrew Omolo Omwende was the first to take the oath of office.
Omwende served as a nominated member in the last assembly representing people with disabilities.
Obiero James Otare of Township ward, who was first elected to the assembly in 2013, was the next to be sworn in being the longest-serving member of the assembly.
The speaker's position attracted 12 individuals who picked nomination forms from the clerk's office between Wednesday and Friday last week.
Three failed to return their nomination forms to the clerk by Tuesday as required.
Lawyer George Mbeya was amongst the aspirants who failed to show up.
The clerk declared Okode and Oruenjo as the only candidates who had met the requirements.
In the last 10 years as speaker, Okode oversaw a united assembly that kept Governor Cornel Rasanga's government in check.
Siaya has 30 wards. However, ward election in South Gem was postponed following the death of one of the candidates (Nick Wanga of ODM) a few weeks before the polls.
That means the assembly now has 29 elected MCAs.
There were 12 nomination slots. However, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission failed to gazette one nominee. So the House has 11 nominated members at the moment.
Out of the 29 elected MCAs, ODM has 26 while the Federal Party of Kenya has one. UDM party also has one and one independent.
Security was beefed up within and outside the assembly before the swearing-in of the MCAs and nomination of the speaker and his deputy.
A barrier was mounted on the main road leading to the assembly and police officers screened those allowed access to the premise.
(edited by Amol Awuor)
