The ODM candidate for the Kakamega gubernatorial position Fernandez Barasa has carried the day in the just concluded elections.
The election results were declared by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Kakamega county returning officer Joseph Ayatta at the county tallying centre in Kakamega High School on Tuesday.
Barasa beat Cleophas Malala of ANC and five others with an overwhelming 192,929 votes, in an election characterised by a very low voter turnout.
Former Kakamega Senator Malala, who is allied to President-elect William Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza formation garnered 159,508 votes.
Malala was followed by former Lugari MP Cyrus Jirongo who managed 5,974 votes.
Others were Nairobi-based lawyer Michael Osundwa (independent) with 1,146 votes, former county executive Suleiman Sumba of Kanu (1,078 votes), Samuel Omukoko of Maendeleo Democratic party ( 761 votes) and the youngest candidate Austin Opitso got 150 votes.
The total valid votes in the election were 361,546, rejected votes were 2,174 and the voter turnout stood at 43 per cent.
In his speech, Barasa thanked the people of Kakamega for believing in him and promised to work with all the residents regardless of how they voted.
“I want to appreciate the people of Kakamega for overwhelmingly voting for me and in the previous election for voting for 11 MPs and 48 MCAs from the Azimio and this will make the running of the county government very easy for us," he said.
“I want to welcome all my competitors to join hands to serve the people of Kakamega. I will be the governor for all without minding whether you belong to Kenya Kwanza or Azimio, I want to unite the people so that we can quickly embark on development.”
