Abdulswamad Nassir wins Mombasa governor race

Abdullswamad Nassir of ODM was the MP for Mvita Constituency between 2013 and 2022. [File, Standard]

Orange Democratic Movement Party's Abdulswamad Nassir is the new Mombasa governor-elect, after garnering 119,083 votes against his closest rival UDA's Hassan Omar who got 98,108 votes.

Early Tuesday morning, tallied results from nearly all the constituencies in Mombasa showed the ODM candidate in the lead in the gubernatorial race.

Results from Likoni Constituency were the only ones pending.

In Jomvu Constituency, Nassir got 15,629 votes, while Omar got 11,038 votes.

In Kisauni Constituency, Nassir received 21,796 votes, while Omar got 20,750 votes.

In Changamwe Constituency, Nassir got 17,740 votes, while Omar got 15,898 votes.

In Mvita Constituency, Nassir got 24,106 votes, while Omar received 19,086 votes.

In Nyali Constituency, Nassir had 22,387 votes, while Omar got 21,580 votes.

The Mombasa gubernatorial race attracted five other candidates. They are Hezron Awiti Bollo of Vibrant Democratic Party (VDP), William Kingi of Pamoja African Alliance (PAA) Party, Said Omar of Usawa Kwa Wote Party, Daniel Kitsao (Independent) and Shafi Makazi (Independent).

The governorship election was held on Monday, August 29.

Initially, the polls were to be held on August 9, 2022, during the general election, but a mix-up of candidates' images on the ballot papers occasioned the postponement, IEBC chairperson Wafula Chebukati said.

Outgoing Governor Ali Hassan Joho was ineligible for re-election after serving the maximum two five-year terms allowed by the Constitution.

Abdullswamad Nassir has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Mvita Constituency between 2013 and 2022.

Hassan Omar, on the other hand, was the pioneer Senator of Mombasa County between 2013 and 2017.

Reporting by Saada Hassan, Tobias Chanji, and George Maringa.