ODM beats Jubilee as the most preferred political party in Mt Kenya – study
Orange Democratic Movement has beaten the Jubilee party as the most preferred political party among the electorates in the Mt Kenya region.
A study done by Mizani Africa - a Pan-African research firm - reveals that the Raila Odinga-led party is the most popular party compared to President Uhuru's Jubilee party.
The study found out that 22.4% of voters from Mt Kenya are likely to vote for an ODM candidate if the elections were held today. Jubilee on the other side would only get 10.2% of the votes.
ODM, however, still has a tough job to convince most residents from the region to vote for it as Deputy President William Ruto is still the most popular presidential candidate in the region. According to the poll, DP Ruto's UDA party is the most popular political party in the region with 61.7% of voters ready to vote for it.
The poll comes as a surprise considering the fact that the Jubilee party seriously beat ODM with the number of votes it got from in the vote-rich region in the last two elections.
An analysis of the 2013 presidential elections shows 92 percent of the voters from Mt Kenya gave President Uhuru 1,895,075 votes while Raila only got 84,010 votes. The same vote pattern was repeated in the 2017 elections.
Raila has, however, started to gain popularity in the region after his handshake with President Uhuru.
Since the handshake, Raila has rebranded his image in Mt Kenya from a political villain to a hero.
In the last few months, Raila has been making roads within Mt Kenya spreading his Azimio La Umoja initiative as he tries to convince the voters from the region that he is the best man to lead the country come 2022.
