Westlands Member of Parliament Tim Wanyonyi now says that the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party's recent loss in the Ugenya by-election was inevitable.
The party's candidate in the race, former MP Chris Karan lost to his predecessor David Ochieng of the Movement for Democracy and Growth (MDG) in the April 5 mini-poll.
Speaking on Wednesday, Wanyonyi who is also a member of ODM said it was hard for the party to win the race as Ochieng openly had the people on his side.
He claimed that recently elected MP was rigged out in the party nominations ahead of the 2017 polls and the ticket instead given to Karan, hence his move to the MDG.
"Ni kweli tulipoteza Ugenya maana Ochieng alishinda kwa nominations lakini akanyanganywa. Hii inaonyesha kwamba watu walikuwa upande wake (we lost in Ugenya because Ochieng won but was rigged out in the primaries. The win shows that the people are on his side)," Wanyonyi said during an interview on Radio Jambo's Mazungumzo Waziwazi show on Wednesday.
The MP stressed on the need for the party to review its nomination procedures to avoid complaints in the future, failure to which he warned that it could lose more seats in future elections.
"Lazima tuangalie mambo ya nomination kwenda mbele (we need to look into the issue of nominations going forward)," he insisted.
Karan finished second, ahead of Daniel Juma and Brian Omondi who came a distant third and fourth in that order.
The election was held only two years after the main polls, thanks to Ochieng's successful petition.