The stage has now been cleared for a fresh battle between the Kenya Kwanza and Azimio la Umoja in the race to capture the four vacant elective seats.
The seats fell vacant following the exit of Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba and MPs Adan Duale (Garissa Township) and Alice Wahome (Kandara) has created a vacuum in both legislative houses.
The trio tendered their resignations on Wednesday moments after the House gave them a nod to be appointed to assume their ministerial jobs.
Speakers of both houses are set to write to the IEBC informing of the existence of vacancies forcing it to declare and call for by-elections within 90 days.
Also up for grabs is the Bungoma senatorial seat formerly held by Moses Wetangula who relinquished it to be elected as the Speaker of the National Assembly.
The commission has already scheduled the election in Bungoma for December 8.
While it might not be a walk in the park for the Kenya Kwanza candidates in clinching the seats, the influence of these former lawmakers and party dominance is going to give them an upper hand.
The fact that they all successfully defended their seats proves the clout and power they wield in their regions something that will ensure their preferred candidates win.
With the August 9 poll losers angling themselves to reclaim their images in the four electoral areas, President William Ruto will be leaving nothing to chance as he seeks to maintain his grip and strength in both Houses.
Following the standoff on which side was the majority, Speaker Wetangula ruled that President William Ruto’s side has 179 MPs against 157 of Raila Odinga’s Azimio while in the Senate Azimio is two seats shy out of the 67.
In the Senate, Kenya kwanza had 34 senators while Azimio 33.
Buoyed by the win, the Kenya Kwanza camp will be banking on the region’s support to bag the seats and continue commanding the control of both houses.
The electoral commission is set to declare the three seats vacant paving the way for the alignments to succeed the lawmakers.
In Kandara, more than 15 candidates have thrown their hats in the ring to succeed Wahome, all seeking their endorsement.
Among them is Francis Kibe the assembly county majority leader, Lucy Ngugi, Evelyne Waithira, Njuguna Chege, Kelvin Kamau, Edward Mwaura and Raphael Kiome.
Wahome, the new CS for water and sanitation, has already maintained that her successor must be from the UDA party.
“Candidates eyeing the seat have been calling me seeking my support to clinch the seat but I have not made up my mind on who to endorse,” she said.
She added she is in a dilemma on who to support as most of them are seeking her support.
Wahome easily won the seat garnering 37,126 votes to be reelected and beat Chege wa Njuguna of Chama Cha Kazi (CCK) who came second among 14 others.
CCK is a member party in the Kenya Kwanza coalition.
In Duale’s turf, it will be a tough battle considering he narrowly won after beating his ODM opponent.
Duale who heads to the Defence docket got reelected after scoring 9,905 votes against 5,972 of Nasir Dolal.
He is, however, yet to endorse any candidate.
Others in the race are Abdullahi Gabane who garnered 5,552 and former Iftin MCA Mohamed Gabow and Mulki Warsame.
Duale who has grown to be the region’s de-facto leader was among the three MPs in the Northeastern region who managed to overcome the strong Azimio tide.
The majority of the candidates won through the coalition.
All the four cabinet secretaries who were defending the seats in the last poll won comfortably.
In Bungoma, Wetangula had an assailable victory which saw the Western Region deliver the most votes to the Kenya Kwanza.
So far, the Speaker has endorsed his long-serving personal assistant Wafula Wakoli as his successor.
“I am going to be the Speaker of the National Assembly, the third in command of the country. I want to assure the Kenya kwanza Alliance team we have our numbers so no problem,” Wetang’ula said before he resigned.
In a resounding victory, Wetangula bagged 286,143 votes to prove his critics wrong.
Former Elgeyo Marakwet Governor Alex Tolgos who failed to clinch the senatorial seat has announced he is not in the race.
Murkomen is now spoilt for choices on who to endorse for the seat.
More than 20 hopefuls from UDA have so far declared their interest in the seat.
