Bomet Governor Isaac Rutto, his Meru counterpart Peter Munya and Nairobi’s Evans Kidero are among prominent county chiefs who appear to be headed into the political cold.
Rutto and Munya had ditched Jubilee and formed their own political outfits with Rutto joining the Opposition as a NASA Co-principal.
Results from some 476 polling stations out of the 728 polling centres indicate that National Assembly Deputy Speaker Joyce Laboso is leading by 111,882 votes which translates into 67.8 per cent.
The results indicate that Rutto, a chief critic of the Jubilee administration was trailing Laboso with 53,135 votes translating into 32 per cent.
In Meru, Senator Kiraitu Murungi is leading in 269 polling stations by 44,953, translating into 58.34 per cent.
Munya comes a distant second at 28,562 votes which is 37 per cent of the announced results.
In Nairobi, former Senator Mike Sonko has taken an early lead in some 611 polling stations out of 3378.
Sonko has polled 154,723 which is 52 per cent against Evans Kidero’s 126,616.
Kidero’s total is 43.27 per cent of votes counted.
In Bungoma, incumbent Governor Kenneth Lusaka, the Jubilee point man in the region was trailing Ford Kenya’s Wycliffe Wangamati.
Wangamati is leading in 277 polling stations out of 1,186 by 40,215votes against Lusaka’s 34,773 which is 42.14 per cent.
In Kisumu, it is clear that that incumbent Governor Jack Ranguma could be a first time County boss.
In some 558 polling stations, ODM’s Anyang’ Nyo’ngo is leading by 146,111 which is 63 per cent of the vote against Ranguma’s 83,123.
In Nyamira, Jubilee’s Walter Nyambati is locked in a dead heat race with ODM’s John Nyagarama.
Nyambati is leading in some 62 polling stations by 5792 which is 31 per cent of the votes against Nyagarama’s 5040 which translates into 27 per cent.
But in what could be sweet music to the ears of ODM supporters, Busia Governor Sospeter Ojamong could retain his seat.
Ojamong is leading by 27,332 votes which translate into 52.4 per cent of the votes against his arch rival Paul Otuoma who polled 22,327. Otuoma’s total is 42 per cent of announced results
In Homa Bay and Siaya, the race is too tight between incumbent ODM governors and independent candidates who resigned from the Orange Party.
In Homa Bay, Governor Cyprian Awiti is leading in 458 polling stations by 87,756 which translates into 53.22 per cent.
Awiti’s opponent, ex-Kasipul MP Oyugi Magwanga has polled 76,425.
In Siaya, Rasanga is leading by 61,315 votes. This is 52 per cent of votes as compared to former Rarienda MP Nicholas Gumbo’s 55,030.
On the other hand, Jubilee Party's Anne Waiguru is headed to be the first woman governor in Kenya.
This is after taking a lead of 57,043 votes against Narc Kenya's Martha Karua 38,776 votes in early results uploaded on the IEBC's public portal.
Independent candidate David Kagai had garnered
3,297 votes while incumbent governor Joseph Ndathi trailed them with
1,550 votes in the tallied 241 out of the 659 polling stations.
According to the provisional results, former Interior CS Joseph Ole Lenku of Jubilee commanded an early lead in Kajiado with
67,481 votes.
Incumbent governor David Nkedienye comes in close with
60,924 votes in the
350 out of 797 stations tallied.
Kakamega governor Wycliffe Oparanya took on Senator Boni Khalwale with a wide margin as at 3am on Wednesday.
Provisional results showed the governor leading with 99,474 votes against his competitor's 40,723.
In Kericho, Governor Paul Chepkwony is also expected to comfortably retain his seat having garnered
197,591 votes in 553 out of 780 stations with his competitor Jonah Keter who had 9,911 votes.
Kabete MP Ferdinand Waititu is also headed for a win against Kiambu governor William Kabogo.
By the time of press, Waititu had 431,615 votes against Kabogo's 115,050 votes.