UDA’s Njuguna Wanjiku wins hotly contested Kiambaa Parliamentary by-election

The United Democratic Alliance (UDA) candidate for the Kiambaa seat Njuguna Wanjiku has been declared the elected MP, just hours after voting was halted due to allegations of irregularities.

Wanjiku beat Jubilee’s Kariri Njama by a hairs’ breadth to garner 21,773 votes to Kariri’s 21,263.

Long before the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission called the mini-election, the UDA was already in high spirits, with several lawmakers from the party congratulating the newly elected MP.

Congratulations to you my friend John Njuguna Wanjiku of UDA on your election as the newest MP of Kiambaa Constituecy. Despite all the evil schemes&misuse of government resources&time to subvert the will of the people,the Lord God protected your victory. To God be the Glory.Amen! pic.twitter.com/5gGfl5x6J0

— KIPCHUMBA MURKOMEN, E.G.H (@kipmurkomen) July 16, 2021

https://twitter.com/_johnnjuguna/status/1415735053276139521

The high-stakes election, held in President Kenyatta’s Kiambu backyard, pitted two former political bedmates who called themselves against each other.

Pundits predicted that the polls would be a mirror image of the 2022 General Elections, and that they would serve as a litmus test to see if President Kenyatta had lost control of his stronghold in his final lap.

Meanwhile, vote counting at Karuri Primary School had been halted indefinitely early Friday after the Jubilee party raised concerns about tallying in two polling stations.

This came after the Jubilee candidate for Kiambaa and his supporters stormed the polling station, claiming a vote-counting irregularity.

At the time, Jubilee’s Kariri Njama was second with 21,057 votes, while UDA’s Wanjiku John was first with 21,301 votes cast from the 152 out of 154 polling stations whose votes had been tallied.

Kariri and his supporters demanded a recount of votes from the Muchatha and Kawaida nursery polling stations, saying there was mischief in ballot boxes from two polling stations.

“You see, they had announced results earlier, wakasema Wanjiku was at 21, 301 and Kariri was at 21,057, kwenda kuangalia tena tunapata Wanjiku ameongezewa kura, hizi kura wametoa wapi, the Presiding officer is misleading us,”Kariri said on Friday.