Nandi Hills MP Alfred Keter has won the United Democratic Alliance party nominations held on Tuesday.
Keter trounced his closest rival Bernard Kitur in an election that saw a group of leaders allied to Deputy President William Ruto gang up against him.
Nandi Hills is one of the regions where the UDA party enjoys massive support. A win in the nominations is billed as a step closer to the victory in a general election.
In the vote cast, Keter garnered 10,263 votes. His closest challenger Kitur got 7,468 votes.
Other in the race Robert Chepkwony got 2,539 votes, George Tarus had 425 votes, Abraham Limo 540 and Irine Chemutai 388.
A total of 21,767 Nandi Hills residents took part in the primaries. The Constituency has 52,679 registered voters.
Kitur had been endorsed by a section of Ruto allies who were after ensuring the incumbent Keter fails to clinch the UDA ticket.
The Nandi Hills had been accused of being UDA rivals’ mole in the Ruto camp.
Ruto’s allies had asked voters to teach him a political lesson by ejecting him out of office.
Among the leaders who publicly campaigned against MP Keter include Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi, Soy’s Caleb Kositany and MP Didmus Barasa.
Deputy President William Ruto’s Director of Communications Emmanuel Talam had also asked voters to reject Keter.
Elated Keter after receiving the certificate went bare-knuckle against his nemeses who he said were determined to rig him out.
“We defeated them. They tried to rig us out but they did not manage to take away our victory. God has given us victory but human beings want to snatch it from us. Now we have the certificate after a long wait,” he said.
Keter appealed to the UDA party to respect the will of the people and allow the democratic process to prevail.
“My appeal to our beloved UDA party, respect the will of the people. You do not have to love me as a person but respect the will of the people of Nandi Hills.”
The incumbent Nandi Hills MP also alleged that some aspirants in the Nandi primaries were rigged by a group of leaders who were keen on shortchanging the will of the people.
He said a majority of them were kicked out not because of the people’s will but because of a few people who after influenced the will of the people.
“Some of these aspirants have gone home crying. They lost in the primaries not because they deserved to but because they were rigged out. The UDA nominations in Nandi were flawed,” Keter said.
