• She was declared winner of the race after garnering 440,707 votes against her closest competitor, Lee Kinyanjui of Jubilee party.
United Democratic Alliance candidate Susan Kihika has been elected the Governor of Nakuru County after handing the incumbent a humiliating defeat in 10 constituencies out of 11.
She was declared winner of the race by the County Independent Electoral and Boundaries Returning Officer, Joseph Melle after garnering 440,707 votes against her closest competitor, Lee Kinyanjui of Jubilee party who got 225,623 votes.
Kinyanjui who is the incumbent only managed to beat Kihika by a small margin in Nakuru Town where he got 34,923 votes against the Governor elect's 32,908 as the.
In some of the counties such as Kuresoi South and Kuresoi North and Subukia Kinyanjui hardly made 10,000 votes with the worst trouncing being in Kuresoi South where he garnered 2,666 votes against the incoming governor's 46,503 votes.
In her acceptance speech, at Nakuru Boys High School County tallying, Kihika thanked Nakuru people for being progressive and electing women.
Nakuru have picked three women for its top leadership led by Kihika, Senator elect, Keroche Tabitha Karanja and the affirmative seat of County Woman Member to the National Assembly which was bagged by Liza Chelule.
Nakuru is among the counties with the largest number of elected women MPs as it has four, namely Naivasha, Gilgil, Bahati and Njoro out the eleven positions.
Three of the women, Janye Kihara, Martha Wangari and Charity Kathambi have retained their seats while Mrembo Irene Njoki managed to beat outspoken Bahati MP, Kimani Ngunjiri in a hotly contested race.
Kihika promised to work extra-hard to prove to the electorate that women deserve leadership position and are as good as their male counterparts.
"I will work like my everything depends on it and deliver on the high expectations of the Nakuru people while at the same time make a legacy for women leadership," she said.
The Nakuru senator said the election was conducted in a professional manner and thanked IEBC for granting her a fare playing ground despite going against an incumbent governor.
Kihika who was the Nakuru County Assembly Speaker from 2013 to 2017 promised to work for all and with the input for all stakeholders including her opponents and those who did not vote for her.
"I am now the governor and I will be working for all the people of Nakuru regardless of their party affiliations," she said.
On her part, the Senator elect pledged to make it her priority to hold the Nakuru County Government to account while at the same time championing the interests of the electorate,
Karanja said she was bringing a wealth of leadership experience that she had acquired in the corporate sector over the decades in business management.
"I know Nakuru is a county of women given the trust that the residents have granted and we will not take the opportunities for granted," she said.
Karanja said that the team would hit the ground running to serve the people in a way that would instil people's confidence in women leadership.