• Kathuri's exit from the race now boosts Mbarire's chances in the gubernatorial race where she'll likely garner majority of the votes in the vote-rich Manyatta constituency.
• In March, Kathuri decamped from Kiraitu Murungi-led Mbus party and announced he would vie for the Embu governor seat on a Jubilee ticket.
Cecily Mbarire's Embu governor bid has received a boost after main rival Emilio Kathuri dropped out of the race and threw his weight behind her.
Kathuri, who decamped to UDA with woman rep aspirant Susan Nyaga, was welcomed by the Kenya Kwanza fraternity Friday led by Deputy President William Ruto.
"Our focus is to unify Embu county and move forward as a united front to deliver victory. Thank you for having confidence in me and supporting my candidature. Together we are strong,"Mbarire said in a twitter post.
The post was accompanied with photos of her, Kathuri, the DP and other Kenya Kwanza principals.
"I want to thank the hustlers nation for welcoming me. I also want to confirm this and state that I'm clearly and categorically supporting Cecily Mbarire," Kathuri said when he met Ruto at his Karen home on Friday.
Kathuri's exit from the race now boosts Mbarire's chances in the gubernatorial race where she'll likely garner majority of the votes in the vote-rich Manyatta constituency.
Embu county has 334, 302 registered voters as per IEBC gazette notice with Manyatta constituency registering the highest number of 106,588.
It is followed by Runyenjes constituency with 95,326, Mbeere South ranks third with 77,264 while Mbeere North has 55,124 registered voters.
This makes Manyatta and Runyenjes the centre of interest in the gubernatorial race.
In March, Kathuri decamped from Kiraitu Murungi-led Mbus party and announced he would vie for the Embu governor seat on a Jubilee ticket.
Kathuri is a close ally of former Embu Senator Lenny Kivuti who is also eyeing the county seat.
His move to Jubilee was against expectations since he had been posing as Kivuti’s running mate when conducting campaigns.
“I decided to support Lenny Kivuti after realising the county needed someone to unite all the communities and sacrificed my interests of being a politician by his rights,” he said then.
His move to back Mbarire is likely to force her opponents back to the drawing board with just three days to the August 9 general elections.
The former Manyatta MP now joins the area political heavy weights John Muchiri, Mbarire's running mate Kinyua Mugo, MP aspirant Gitonga Mukunji in drumming up support for Kenya Kwanza in the constituency.