Jubilee Party's Ahmed Kolosh has won the Wajir West by-election after garnering 11,053 votes.
He defeated Kanu's Ibrahim Sheikh who came in second after garnering 6,532 votes.
The results were announced early Friday morning by IEBC returning officer Mourice Raria.
A total of 17,000 voters turned out to vote in the by-election. The constituency has a total Number of 21,544 voters.
Kolosh decamped from Raila Odinga's ODM party after the Supreme Court overturned his election on January 19.
The ongoing drought lead to voter apathy as most of the voters who are pastoralists moved far with their animals in search of water and pasture for their animals
Sheik, while conceding defeat, promised to work closely with Kolosh.
Hongera Wajir West! Your voice has been heard. Hon. Ahmed Kolosh has won the by-election with 11,053 votes. Our Party leadership will continue giving him all the support he requires to lead and serve you best. #WajirWestNiJubilee #WajirWestDecides pic.twitter.com/i16l7Lb6eJ
— JUBILEE PARTY® (@JubileePartyK) April 26, 2019
"I want to take this opportunity to congratulate my worthwhile competitor. We are all winners. I will join him in building and moving Wajir West forward. In me he has a brother," Sheikh said.
Among the first to congratulate Kolosh was National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale and Wajir Governor Mohamed Abdi.
Duale said the win was well deserved.
"Kolosh's win goes once again to show that Jubilee is the dominant party not only in North Eastern but the party of choice among the patoralists. The future looks really bright for our party," Duale said in a Facebook post.
Governor Abdi who was among those who were involved in brokering a deal between Kolosh and his competitors thanked the electorate and the residents of Wajir West for remaining peaceful.
"I want to sincerely thank the great at people of Wajir West for maintaining peace before and during the election. The election is now over and behind us and its time to forge a united front and build our county," he said.
The by-election was generally peaceful apart from a few concerns about the speed of the IEBC KIEMS kits.
The problem was however sorted out by the IEBC officials.
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