Azimio leader Raila Odinga and President-elect William Ruto are in a hot race to control the National Assembly following the conclusion of four parliamentary by-elections that were held on Monday, August 29.
After the official announcement of the results, the Azimio coalition led by Raila bagged three out of the four seats.
Kenya Kwanza of William Ruto won only one parliamentary seat in Rongai Constituency where Paul Chebor of United Democratic Alliance (UDA) trounced Raymond Moi of KANU.
Azimio on the other hand, secured three seats after Pokot South MP David Kposing of KUP defended his seat, garnering 28,225 votes, flooring Simon Kalekem of the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) who got 5, 295 votes.
Titus Lotee of KUP beat incumbent Mark Lomunokol with 20,073 votes to claim the Kacheliba parliamentary seat. Lomunokol who got 17, 963 votes was vying on a UDA party ticket. KUP is an affiliate party of Azimio coalition, and was launched by former West Pokot governor Prof John Lonyangapuo.
In Kitui rural parliamentary seat, David Mwalika of the Wiper party trounced his closest rival Charles Nyamai of UDA after garnering 19,745 votes. Nyamai garnered 10,178 votes.
The Election of four MP seats has settled the political dust on who would control the National Assembly between Ruto and Raila.
In the run up to the by-election, Ruto’s side had 161 MPs in the National Assembly and 24 in the Senate, while Azimio had 160 MPs and 22 senators. This means that Azimio coalition will now control the August House after managing to secure three seats settling at 163 against Ruto's 162.
The seats play a crucial role for Ruto, as well as Raila because a majority win accounts for which political formation would get the powerful Speaker's position and the Majority leader.
Both sides have fronted their preferred candidates for the post of Speaker of the National Assembly, With Kenya Kwanza settling on Bungoma Senator Moses Wetangula whereas Azimio is said to be backing Wiper party leader Kalonzo Musyoka and Farah Maalim.
After being declared the winner, Ruto went on to charm offensive against Raila and has been swaying Azimio allied MPs to his side in a bid to bolster his coalition in Parliament.
On Friday, August 26, Ruto welcomed Ugenya MP David Ochieng and his MDG party his coalition days after he won over the United Democratic Movement of Mandera senator-elect Ali Roba. UDM was is an affiliate party of Azimio which has six MPs and two Senators.
Ten out of the 12 independent lawmakers have already indicated that they will be joining Dr Ruto's Kenya Kwanza movement.
Despite the defections, however, Azimio still holds ground to form a simple majority based on the pre-election agreement.
According to Article 22 of the Deed of Agreement establishing Azimio la Umoja on Withdrawal of Parties, an affiliate party can only withdraw after giving a three-month notice. This would mean that the United Democratic Movement (UDM) party which recently joined Kenya Kwanza was still an Azimio member.
