The United Democratic Alliance(UDA) party has expressed confidence that it will win the Mombasa and Kakamega governorship next Tuesday, following the victory of Deputy President William Ruto in the presidential election.
In Mombasa, the UDA faces stiff competition from Mr. Raila Odinga’s ODM, which considers Mombasa to be one of its political strongholds.
The county has 642,362 registered voters, according to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC). Mr. Odinga received 161,015 votes, while Kenya Kwanza President-elect William Ruto received 113,700 votes.
Mr. Omar is running for governor against Mvita MP Abdulswamad Nassir (ODM) and Pamoja African Alliance Deputy Governor William Kingi.
Mr. Daniel Munga Kitsao (Independent), Mr. Hezron Awiti (Vibrant Democratic Party), Mr. Said Abdalla (Usawa Kwa Wote), Mr. Shafii Makazi (Upia), and Mr. Antony Chitavi (United Democratic Forum) are also in the race.
Mr. Omar urged voters to turn out in large numbers to help the UDA win the seat.
“We’ve shown our opponents that we can do it at the national level. I request you to do the same here at the county level. Kenyans have made the decision and ultimately we’re confident that we will win the Mombasa governor election as well,” UDA governor candidate Hassan Omar said, former area senator.
ODM bagged the majority seats in Mombasa County according to the results of the concluded elections. The Raila- led party bagged five out of the six constituencies, with only Mohammed Ali of UDA breaking the streak in Nyali.
The party also won the Woman representative and the senate seats to extend its dominance in the coast region politics.
Residents of Kakamega County troop back to the polling stations next Tuesday, this time to elect their new governor in another round of battles between Azimio One-Kenya Alliance and the Kenya Kwanza coalition.
The race to succeed Wycliffe Oparanya as Kakamega Governor is projected to be between front-runners Fernandes Barasa of ODM and Cleophas Malala of the Amani National Congress (ANC) which is a signatory party of the Kenya Kwanza Alliance.
Buoyed by the victory of Deputy President William Ruto, the Kenya Kwanza brigade led by ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi are out to prove their mettle in the county.
But the Azimio team led by Oparanya has vowed to stamp their authority in the county regarded as the bedrock of Luhya politics. Leaders from the various political divides were yesterday exuding confidence in victory.
Those allied to Kenya Kwanza called on the residents to vote for Malalah “so as to be in the new government”.
“We have been in opposition for a very long time and this has had adverse negative effects to our county and other parts of the Western region,” said Shinyalu MP-elect Fred Ikana.
ODM overshadowed other parties to win most seats in Kakamega County.
Of the 12 constituencies in Kakamega, Azimio clinched 10, alongside the Women Representative’s seat.
The Raila Odinga-led outfit also won 45 out of 60 wards. Barasa has preferred to take a low profile since the General Election arguing that the official campaign period was over. But Malalah has openly been campaigning, albeit on his own.
