DEVELOPING STORY: ODM candidate takes early lead in Bonchari by-election

The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party is taking an early lead in the IEBC’s provisional results from the Bonchari by-election.

This, as the three top political parties: Jubilee Party, United Democratic Alliance (UDA), and ODM are in a tight race to clinch the Parliamentary seat.

ODM’s Pavel Oimeke is leading with 1,648 votes followed closely by UDA’S Teresa Bitutu with 1,369 votes in 21 of the 103 polling stations counted so far.

Jubilee’s candidate Zebedeo Opore, a former MP of the area, trails third with 1,198 votes per the results verified as of 10:30pm, Tuesday, May 18.

The three candidates are in stiff competition in a by-election that has attracted 13 candidates and has attracted a lot of political heat.

The constituency’s seat fell vacant on February 15, 2021, after the demise of John Oroo Oyioka who had been elected in the 2017 General elections.

Oyioka died after a long illness at the Aga Khan Hospital in Kisumu. He was buried at his Suneka rural home on February 26, 2021.

He was elected under a People’s Democratic Party (PDP) ticket during the General Election in 2017.

Bonchari constituency has 52,624 registered voters.