23-year-old student who campaigned on foot wins Kenyan MP seat

Kenyan university student John Paul Mwirigi has beaten veteran politicians to win the Igembe South parliamentary seat in the 2017 general elections.

The 23-year-old Mt Kenya University student beat ruling Jubilee Party candidate Rufus Miriti by over 3,000 votes, with Mwenda Mzalendo, Kubai Mutuma and Raphael Muriungi trailing.

He gained all the 18,867 votes as an independent candidate after a door-to-door campaign on foot to win the hearts of the people and realise his dreams, he told local media portal Daily Nation.

John Paul Mwirigi who is studying for a degree in education said his dream to be in parliament started in secondary school and he nurtured it by holding leadership positions.

“I had a dream where I was tabling a motion in Parliament while I was in Form three. That is when I started asking my fellow students to start campaigning for me since I would need their vote in 2017. I have held leadership positions in school and in my neighbourhood,” he was quoted as saying.

He promised to work hard to transform the lives of the people in his community despite his humble background.

“Since I come from a humble background, I understand the issues that affect the residents. My key agenda will be to transform the lives of the people,” he said.

Kenya’s election has been interesting with three women making history by winning governorate seats and another three winning senatorial seats.

John Paul Mwirigi will be the youngest member of parliament when sworn in.

• Meet the eight candidates for Kenya’s 2017 presidential elections
• A look at Kenya’s elections history since independence in 1964
• Kenya Votes 2017: Have a look at the electoral system

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