Good morning,
It has now emerged that the two preferred presidential candidates; Deputy President William Ruto and Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga will have a lot of work to do between now and Saturday to convince voters who are undecided to vote for them in order for them to win in round one.
A survey carried out by Ipsos and released yesterday shows Raila is ahead of Ruto but short of a first-round win. The two are still short of the winning formulae required to win the presidential poll.
The survey conducted between July 23 and 30 shows Raila is the most popular contender after 47 per cent of respondents said they would vote for him. Ruto, who is vying on a United Democratic Alliance ticket, had the support of 41 per cent of the respondents.
The survey that had 6,105 respondents nationally with a +-1.25 margin of error, indicates that nine per cent of Kenyans are yet to decide who to vote for or refused to disclose their preferred candidate.
This means they could still sway the outcome of the election in favour of any of the two if they were to cast their ballots.
Among this group, the undecided are 3.8 per cent while those who refused to disclose how they will vote stood at 5.1 per cent, still high with five days to polls.
Whom do you think between the two will do a good convincing job to woo the undecided voters on their side or will we have to go to the next round to determine the winner of the polls?
Meanwhile, here are news stories making headlines on Opera News today;
Uhuru Reveals 6 Leaders He Was Considering Endorsing For Presidency Before he Settled on Raila
With five days to go before Kenyans cast their votes to elect the next government, President Uhuru Kenyatta has revealed why he settled on the Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga as his preferred successor.
Uhuru endorsed Raila’s bid, saying that he is the best to lead the country after he exits once his second term ends, and has been drumming up his support towards the Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Alliance presidential candidate.
According to a report by the Nation on Wednesday, Uhuru while meeting a section of leaders from the Luo Nyanza counties on Tuesday night at Kisumu State Lodge revealed that he wanted a key leader who would have successfully defeated his deputy William Ruto, and a leader who has interests of Kenyans at heart.
Uhuru told the leaders who attended that Raila was the best choice owing to his experience in politics, with Raila’s younger sister Ruth Odinga telling the Nation that the president told them that he was the one who convinced Raila to contest as he was ready to retire from politics.
Matiangi Very Happy, Reveals What NIS Has Told Him About Next Week’s Election
Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has assured Kenyans of peaceful elections next week, despite alleged attempts by politicians to cause trouble.
The CS says that there are politicians making reckless remarks, allegedly to incite Kenyans, indirectly pointing at Deputy President William Ruto and members of his Kenya Kwanza brigade.
But he says that nothing will happen with regards to Kenyans turning against each other, stating that those trying to cause issues aren’t succeeding.
Matiang’i states that he has received data from the National Intelligence Service (NIS) suggesting that the poll will be peaceful, calm and orderly.
He on Tuesday added that the data he has shows that Kenyans are having progressive discussions about the elections and are not being influenced by the politicians making irresponsible remarks.
MoH wants suicide declared a public health emergency
The Ministry of Health now wants mental health declared a national public health emergency to stop runaway cases of suicide.
This is the country’s loudest health alarm bell signifying a situation that is going out of control.
The ministry also recommended that attempted suicide should be decriminalised in Kenya.