Kisumu — Kisumu City remained a dull city throughout the night on Tuesday following the closing of polls as election officials begun tallying presidential votes in the 2022 General Election reflecting a drastic change from the excitement reported on Election Day.
The lakeside city was abuzz with celebrations on the eve of the election when dozens of volunteers woke up as early as 4am blowing whistles to mobilize voters to turn out and vote.
The celebratory mood in the region, where Azimio presidential candidate Raila Odinga enjoyed significant support according to a provisional tally, faded away as locals followed the presidential results on television sets.
There was no much activity at Kondele, an informal settlement on the outskirts of the city, which has remained the epicenter of agitation for reforms over the years.
"Everyone is gloomy here," said James Maina, a local resident.
Pockets of youths standing and conversing in low tones could be seen in Kondele.
There was however no significant police presence as in the past cases, where youths would engage security agents in running battles.
Maina said the peace at Kondele "is abnormal," in disbelief of the radical shift from past elections.
Businesses that closed on Tuesday as directed by the Kisumu City were slowly opening up.
A drive into the city centre on Wednesday morning, pointed to a calm city, one would think it was a weekend.
The firimbis, vuvuzelas and blaring of horns by cyclists have died down.
A boda boda rider, Edward Odhiambo said they expected to see Odinga leading with a wide margin of votes.
Odhiambo noted that Kisumu would be in early celebrations but that has been put on hold due to the tight race between Raila and his main challenger William Ruto of Kenya Kwanza Coalition.
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"We are on standby to kick off celebrations should we see the margin growing, at the moment we are mute," said Odhiambo.
Across the counties seven Constituency Tallying Centres, votes were still being tallied with no clear winner for the positions of Members of Parliament emerging.
However, provisional results pointed to ODM party, Odinga's party for nearly two decades, bagging six constituencies save for one.
Kisumu East MP Shakeel Shabir of an Independent candidate was poised to win for the fourth time beating the ODM candidate Nicholas Oricho.
Kisumu West Constituency was likely to slip in the hands of the current MP John Olago Aluoch of MDG party.
Rosa Buyu, the immediate Kisumu County Woman Representative, was poised to win on an ODM party ticket according to provisional results.
At the Kisumu Central Tallying Centre, located at Kisumu National Polytechnic, the Returning Officer Yegon Kibos was still receiving results from the 222 polling stations.
A total of 150 stations had reported results.
Dr Joshua Oron of ODM party was poised to win the MPs seat, beating the incumbent Fred Ouda who vied on an Independent ticket.
