PEP’s George Koimburi wins Juja Parliamentary by-election » Capital News

NAIROBI, Kenya May 19 – George Koimburi of the People’s Empowerment Party (PEP) has won the Juja Parliamentary by-election after garnering 12, 159 votes.

Koimburi who was fronted by the party associated with Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria beat his closest challenger Susan Waititu of Jubilee Party who mamaged 5, 746 votes.

Susan is the widow of the late MP Francis Waititu popularly known as Wakapee who succumbed to brain cancer in February 2021.

The tallying of the results which were suspended on Tuesday evening after chaos erupted following protests by a section of Jubilee leaders led by Kiambu Governor James Nyoro were made official after the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) crosschecked the results from all the 184 polling stations.

The Constituency’s IEBC returning officer Justus Mbithi announced the results.

The Jubilee leaders who disrupted the vote count had accused IEBC officials of vote rigging prompting police to intervene.

Kariuki Joseph Gichui, an independent candidate, came third with 1,356 votes.

21,862 voters took part in the mini-poll that attracted 11 candidates reflecting a voter turnout of 18.91 percent.

Chebukati who was present during the announcement of the results re-assured the public of delivering credible polls and noted that no amount of intimidation of the agency’s poll officials would derail them.

“As a commission we really do want to take this country forward in terms of democracy. Each of the stakeholders do have a role to play. What the commission does is that we do everything to the law,” he said.

The result is yet another major shocker to the ruling Jubilee Party which lost two other by-elections that of Bonchari parliamentary seat that was cliched by ODM’s Pavel Oimeke and that of Rurii Ward that was clinched by Muraya Githaiga of the the United Democratic Alliance (UDA), a party allied to Deputy President William Ruto.