ODM’s Nyikal retains Seme seat after beating closest rival Kadiri
Dr James Nyikal (left), who has been re-elected as Seme MP, receives his election certificate from the Constituency Returning Officer Bernard Oweri at St Barnabas Secondary School tallying centre on August 10, 2022.
ODM legislator James Wambura Nyikal has retained his Seme parliamentary seat beating his closest opponent Haggai Hawi Kadiri, an independent candidate.
Dr Nyikal garnered 30,728 votes while Mr Haggai managed to get 14,402 votes in the August 9 General Election.
While announcing the results, Seme Constituency Returning Officer Bernard Oweri said four candidates were vying for the parliamentary seat.
Others in the race were singer Julius Ondijo Owino, popularly known as Maji Maji, who got 1124 votes, and Ms Alice Akoko who managed 199 votes.
“With the votes tallied, I now declare Dr James Wambura Nyikal as the winner of the Seme parliamentary seat,” said Mr Oweri on Wednesday.
Seme Constituency has 130 polling stations spread across four wards. The Constituency has 62,045 registered voters, the least in Kisumu County.
74.86pc voter turnout
According to Mr Oweri, the 40,453 voters who cast their ballots represented a 74.86 per cent voter turnout.
Earlier, agitated agents and supporters of Dr Nyikal had put pressure on the IEBC official to announce the results, hours after the tallying had been closed.
“I know towards the end of the day my people were very impatient. But we realised this is a lot of work. Please accept our sincere gratitude,” said Dr Nyikal during his acceptance speech.
“I want to appreciate the police, who have since maintained security in this area, and the peaceful campaigns were have had,” he added.
Seme Constituency was created in 2013 when it was hived off the then Kisumu Rural Constituency.
It comprises of four electoral wards of North Seme, East Seme, West Seme and Central Seme.
It is also divided into six locations and 28 administrative sub-locations.
