Can Gachagua turn Ol Kalou triumph into a 2027 election upset?
Rigathi Gachagua's Democratic Congress Party won a parliamentary by-election in Ol Kalou, Kenya, defeating the ruling UDA party candidate. The victory is being viewed as a potential challenge to President William Ruto's political dominance in the Mt Kenya region ahead of the 2027 elections.
Why it matters
This result tests the political influence of the former Deputy President and signals potential shifts in Kenya's regional power dynamics.
DCP party leader Rigathi Gachagua and Ol Kalou MP-elect Sammy Douglas Kamau Waweru. /RIGATHI GACHAGUA/X Rigathi Gachagua's Democratic Congress Party (DCP) secured a resounding victory in the Ol Kalou parliamentary by-election, handing the former Deputy President his first Member of the National Assembly and reigniting debate over whether the triumph signals a political shift capable of unsettling President William Ruto's re-election bid in 2027.
DCP candidate Sammy Douglas Kamau Waweru won the seat with 35,440 votes, trouncing United Democratic Alliance (UDA) candidate Samuel Muchina Nyagah, who garnered 5,450 votes.
The remaining seven candidates each received fewer than 200 votes in a contest that recorded a voter turnout of 57 per cent.
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