The Raila Odinga-led party acknowledged that it lost to its National Super Alliance (NASA) counterpart, Musalia Mudavadi (ANC) in the heated Matungu by-election.
ANC’s Peter Nabulindo garnered 14,260 votes. ODM’s David Were came second with 10,565 with UDA’s Alex Lanya following with 5,513 votes.
“We congratulate all winners and celebrate our candidate in Matungu Constituency. Even though the result is not exactly what we had aimed for, coming a very strong second with close to 11,000 votes against 14,000 combined efforts for ANC, Ford-Kenya, KANU, and Wiper parties confirm that ODM remains the party to beat nationally.
“The local campaign team led by our Deputy Party Leader, Governor Wycliffe Oparanya, made us proud,” ODM’s Executive Director, Oduor Ongw’en said.
ODM also congratulated its candidate, Malach Matara for winning the Kiamokama Ward, Kisii by-election and Andrew Sure for finishing third in Huruma Ward.
Odinga’s party did not field a candidate in Kabuchai, Bungoma County where Ford-Kenya’s Majimbo Kalasinga was declared the MP.
ODM further condemned the violence that was witnessed in the by-elections. ODM said that Kenyans had to choose whether electoral contests would be settled through violence or vote – bullet or ballot.
“The degree of violence and intimidation visited upon hapless women and aged voters during the voting portends a very bleak future of our electoral democracy.
“This must not only be harshly condemned but calls for the State, IEBC, and political parties to introspect, rethink our democratic tenets, and retool. The law of the jungle should have no place in the choice of leadership in civilized politics,” Ongw’en said.
Mudavadi, on his end, trolled ODM and Ruto linked UDA for losing the Matungu election, adding that Western Kenya had proved to be ANC’s stronghold. He said that the victory signified his journey to the State House in 2022.
In a separate statement, Jubilee also congratulated Lucy Chomba and Virginia Wamaitha for winning Huruma Ward and Hell’s Gate ward by-elections respectively. Jubilee, however, lost the London Ward by-election to UDA’s Anthony Nzuki.
Source: KENYAGIST.COM
