Former Investigative journalist Mohammed Ali is poised to become next legislator for Nyali in Mombasa County.
Provisional results released by the IEBC at 9:30 am Wednesday, Ali was in the lead with 22, 348 votes against his main challenger of ODM Party Said Abdallah who had 13, 673,
From the numbers, Abdallah who is Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho’s Cousin conceded defeat.
In a phone interview with the Star, he said he has respected the will of the people and “has moved on”.
“It was a tight race. We have learned from our mistakes and we shall put a strong fight in future.”
“I would like to congratulate my opponent Mohammed Ali on winning the seat. I sincerely thank all those who took their time to come out and vote for me yesterday,” he wrote on his facebook page.
Ali had earlier expressed confidence in clinching the seat after what he termed as “botched” ODM primaries.
He vied as an independent candidate and faced off 13 other candidates.
He will now lead the third largest constituency in Mombasa County with 104, 017 registered voters.
Still, in Mombasa County, incumbent governor Hassan Joho has maintained a steady lead with 200, 848 votes.
His challenger Suleiman Shahbal of the Jubilee Party has 63, 258 votes while outgoing Mombasa Senator Hassan Omar who was contesting the governorship comes in third with 39, 729 votes.