Amani National Congress leader Musalia Mudavadi has cast doubt on the validity of recent polls that show the ODM leader Raila Odinga has gained popularity ahead of the August polls.
Speaking in Kirinyaga on Thursday, February 17, during the Kenya Kwanza alliance rally, Mudavadi accused pollsters of being used to set the stage for election rigging.
The Kenya Kwanza leader castigated the new opinion polls that had shown Deputy President William Ruto losing popularity while his arch-rival, the former prime minister is gaining ground.
“That is how they start stealing elections by saying Ruto’s percentage has stagnated while that of Raila has started to rise so that they start confusing you, to accept the stealing,” he said.
According to the poll, DP Ruto is still ahead of Raila in the presidential race even though his popularity has remained unchanged compared to the former prime minister who has gained 4 percent since the last poll in November.
The deputy president currently has a popularity rate of 38 percent followed closely by the ODM leader at 27 percent.
According to the poll, the former prime minister has gained popularity in the Mt Kenya region, currently, he has the support of 16 percent of the respondents, while DP Ruto’s popularity has reduced to 49 percent.
At the same time, Mudavadi called on the people of Mt Kenya to turn out in large numbers and vote for the Kenya Kwanza candidates. He said the only way to avoid a run-off poll and a court battle is for the Kenya Kwanza Alliance to have a resounding victory of over 70 percent.
But as the Kenya Kwanza team excluded confidence of winning in the first round, the TIFA polls, say it’s early to conclusively decide on the outright candidate as 20 percent of the respondents remain undecided on their preferred candidate.
“However, with one-fifth of all the respondents undecided about their preferred next-president and with six months remaining until the casting of actual ballots, there is no way of knowing how much these figures might change,” the poll stated.
