Raila , Uhuru neck to neck, opinion polls

By Caleb Mutua

With only 12 days to the general elections, Prime Minister Raila odinga and his main challenger Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta are competing head to head according to three latest opinion polls.

The first survey conducted Strategic Research, indicated that Mr Odinga was leading with 44 per cent, closely followed by Mr Kenyatta with 43.9 percent.

The survey was conducted in 33 counties between February 14 and February 17, putting Amani coalition flagbearer in the third position (6.4 per cent) while Peter Kenneth (Eagle coalition) garnered 2.8 percent.

The poll company said the survey was up to 95 per cent confident with a margin of error of +/-2.

The second opinion poll conducted by Consumer insight in 33 counties, Mr Odinga maintained the top position, this time with 45 per cent while Mr Kenyatta got 43 percent.

Amani coalition leader dropped by one per cent, garnering five percent of all respondents interviewed.

Another opinion poll conducted by Infotrak Research and Consulting in the same time frame, Mr Kenyatta increased his ratings by one percent (44.4 per cent) and Mr Odinga another one percent (45.9 per cent).

The other presidential hopefuls continued to score purely in all the three opinion polls while Raila remained the most popular aspirant in nairobi closely followed with Mr Kenyatta. The opinion polls were commissioned by the Nation Media Group.

This shows that the country is likely to go for a run-off after the March 4 vote as no presidential candidate is able to attain the electoral threshold required to win the presidential race in the first round.

The electoral commission requested for Sh6 billion to properly conduct a presidential run-off in case we go for one.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) confirmed that they had enough funds to conduct the March 4 polls but insisted that they required an additional amount in case there is one.

First published in February 2013.