Testing the waters? DCP to contest all by-elections

Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua's Democracy for Citizens Party intends to field candidates across all the upcoming by-elections.

The DCP party unveiled the candidates on Tuesday and expressed confidence of emerging victorious in its first ever electoral contest once the IEBC announces the election dates.

DCP was officially launched on July 7 after months of delays, becoming one of the newest parties in the country.

Speaking at the DCP headquarters during the candidate unveiling, deputy party leader Cleophas Malala affirmed that the party will field candidates for all the by-elections.

"We convened a meeting of aspirants who are going to contest in the forthcoming elections. DCP party has attracted very many aspirants, we are going to allow democracy to work that is why we are having this number of aspirants," he said.

There are 23 pending by-elections, comprising six National Assembly seats, one Senate seat, and 16 Member of County Assembly (MCA) positions.

Initially, there were 22 pending by-elections, but on May 31, the Court of Appeal upheld the nullification of Harrison Kombe's election as Magarini MP, sending him back to the ballot.

The other seats fell vacant either through deaths or appointments to other roles.

Notable vacancies include Baringo Senate seat left vacant following the death of incumbent William Cheptumo, Ugunja MP seat fell vacant following the appointment of Opiyo Wandayi as Energy CS, same as Mbere North MP seat which followed the appointment of incumbent Geoffrey Ruku to the Cabinet.

Additionally, Kasipul seat fell vacant after MP Ong’ondo Were was assasinated on April 30.

Hassan Maalim and Malulu Injendi also passed away, occassioning by-elections in Banisa and Malava constituencies respectively.

Malala said the Banisa and malava aspirants are already actively engaging with constituents having been unveiled earlier on.

"Those candidates have hit the ground running and we want to encourage the electorate from the two constituencies to continue supporting our candidates."

This will be DCP's real test of its popularity after months of verbal supremacy contests against the ruling UDA with which Gachagua severed ties following his October 2024 impeachment. 

Malala has emphasised that the party will conduct transparent nominations in areas with multiple aspirants to select the best candidates.

He assured supporters that the nominations will be free and fair.

"We are not going to favour any candidate, we are going to ensure that anybody who registers as an aspirant is given free and fair nomination. Only party members will be able to participate in the nominations," Malala said.

The deputy party leader urged the aspirants to marshall supporters in the grassroots to register as party members ahead of the primaries to enhance their chances of backing nominations.

"We have also agreed that in some incidences, consensus will be applied. We have agreed that candidates who will have lost during nominations or not considered during consensus will support our candidate."

Malala called on the IEBC to walk the talk and announce the election dates for the vacant seats as promised a week ago.

"We are ready for the elections and the IEBC should give us the dates as soon as possible."