The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has cleared four candidates that will now be on the ballot for the Kesses Member of Parliament seat in the August 9 general election.
IEBC finalized the clearance of MP aspirants in the constituency last week.
A final list of those cleared has only one candidate vying on a party ticket – UDA’s CPA Julius Ruto, with the rest being independent candidates.
CPA Ruto, a former Uasin Gishu County Executive Committee Member (CECM) for Finance and Economic Planning is hoping to ride on the UDA wave in the county to win the seat.
He however faces competition from incumbent MP Dr. Swarup Mishra.
Mishra who is seeking his second term is vying as an independent candidate. He was first elected MP in 2013 on a Jubilee party ticket.
Other candidates cleared to be on the ballot for the Kesses MP Seat race are Alex Kemboi and Stephen Teigut – both of who are independent candidates.
Political pundits have already predicted that it will be a two-horse race in Kesses between Dr. Mishra and CPA Ruto.
The two candidates have intensified their campaigns with under two months until the general election.
In the 2017 general election, the Kesses constituency had 67,136 registered voters. The number is now higher following the mass voter registration exercise that IEBC conducted.
IEBC has not yet published a voters’ register for the 2022 polls, as there is an ongoing audit.
But based on the 2017 data, Tarakwa was the ward with the highest number of voters (18,117) followed by Tulwet/Chuiyat (17,525 registered voters), Racecourse (17,396 registered voters), and Cheptiret/Kipchamo ward which had 14,098 registered voters.
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