NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 17 – The Ol Kalou parliamentary by-election not only handed the Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP) a resounding victory but also exposed the marginal influence of several smaller political parties, with three candidates failing to secure even 20 votes each.
Official results released by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) show that Rachael Wangui Njoroge of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) finished last with just 11 votes, followed by Edward Mathenge Mwaniki of the Kenya Moja Movement (KMM) with 16 votes, while Abdifatah Hussein Abdullahi of the Federal Party of Kenya (FPK) garnered 19 votes.
Collectively, the three candidates attracted 46 votes—still fewer than the 51 votes polled by Progressive Movement (PM) candidate Timothy Kamau Kariuki.
The outcome underscored the dominance of DCP candidate Sammy Douglas Kamau Waweru, who swept to victory with 35,440 votes, defeating United Democratic Alliance (UDA) candidate Samuel Muchina Nyagah, who finished a distant second with 5,450 votes.
The remaining candidates also struggled to gain traction. Jubilee Party’s Wilson Mwaniki Kigwa finished third with 198 votes, Stephen Wanyoike Waithaka of the National Liberal Party (NLP) garnered 103 votes, Timothy Kamau Kariuki (PM) received 51 votes, while Edwin Kariiri Muchiri of KANU secured 28 votes.
The July 16 by-election attracted national attention after evolving into a high-stakes contest between DCP and the ruling UDA, with political observers viewing it as an early test of political influence in the vote-rich Mt. Kenya region ahead of the 2027 General Election.
IEBC Returning Officer Antony Njiraine declared Waweru the duly elected Member of the National Assembly after tallying all votes cast across the constituency.
According to the commission, Ol Kalou Constituency has 73,480 registered voters, with 41,656 ballots cast, translating to a voter turnout of 56.7 percent.
Although voting was largely peaceful, the exercise was briefly disrupted by isolated incidents in Ol Kalou town, where masked armed men assaulted journalists and caused panic near a polling centre before security agencies restored order.
Despite the incidents, the IEBC commended voters, election officials, security agencies, observers, political parties and the media for contributing to what it described as a peaceful and orderly electoral process.
“IEBC thanks the voters of Ol Kalou Constituency, candidates, political parties, election officials, security agencies, observers, the media and all stakeholders for contributing to a peaceful and orderly electoral process,” the Commission said.
Waweru’s emphatic victory gives DCP a significant political foothold in the Mt. Kenya region while highlighting the widening gap between the two dominant contenders and the rest of the field, several of whom failed to mount any meaningful electoral challenge.