Former Kitui governor Julius Makau Malombe has bounced back to reclaim the seat he lost to Charity Ngilu in 2017.
Malombe garnered 198,004 votes with his closest rival and former senator David Musila of the Jubilee party coming a distant second with 114,606 votes.
UDA's Jonathan Mueke, who is a former Nairobi deputy governor, got 10,639 votes.
The results were announced on Friday night by Kitui County returning officer Macharia Gichichi at the Kitui Multipurpose Development and Training Centre's hall which has been transformed into the IEBC county tallying centre.
Although the outgoing Kitui governor Ngilu had belatedly withdrawn from the race, her name was on the ballot and she also received 2026 votes.
Macharia declared Malombe as the new governor-elect and handed him certificate minutes before 11 pm.
A multitude of Malombe's supporters who had escorted him and camped outside the institute's gate went wild singing and dancing after he was announced the winner.
Malombe was accompanied by his deputy governor designate, Augustine Wambua Kanani, Woman representative Irene Kasalu and Kitui Senator Enoch Wambua.
Wambua and Kasalu were both declared winners after they retained their Senate and woman representative seats respectively.
Wambua garnered 191,317 votes while Kasalu scooped 201,899 votes to retain their seats.
