Sixty-one per cent of Kenyans do not want Raila Odinga to contest the presidential election next year, according to an opinion poll released yesterday. However, out of these, 26 per cent want the Cord leader to remain active in politics, even the leadership of his party, even if not on the presidential ballot.
The poll by Ipsos Public Affairs has revealed that 35 per cent of Kenyans want Raila to hang his political boots completely ahead of the August, 2017 General Election.
Tom Wolf, Ipsos Research Analyst, added: “A total of 26 per cent of those polled, however, feel Raila should continue to lead or work with his political party but not contest the presidency.”
At the same time, the study findings showed that almost the same percentage, 34, are of the opinion that Raila should remain active in politics and be the Cord presidential candidate in next year’s polls.
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“From our findings, 35 per cent of those who we interviewed want Raila to retire from politics completely while 34 per cent said he should remain active in his party and even contest the presidency,” said Wolf.
The poll, conducted between June 4 and 18 and commissioned by the polling firm showed that more of the ruling Jubilee coalition supporters (60 per cent) want Raila to retire than opposition supporters (five per cent).
Only 10 per cent of Jubilee supporters wanted the Cord leader to contest the 2017 polls as compared to Cord’s 69 per cent who want the former Premier on the ballot.
Raila’s political future has been a subject of debate with many leaders especially from the ruling Jubilee coalition urging him to quite active politics in exchange of a retirement package.
The Ipsos findings also revealed that President Uhuru Kenyatta beats Raila in commitment to fight and address key national issues like combating negative ethnicity or tribalism, corruption, inequality, economic development and defending the Constitution.
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