Poll: Public wants Raila Odinga to remain in politics

Updated Wednesday, July 10th 2013 at 23:17 GMT +3

By LONAH KIBET

Kenya: Thirty-two per cent of Kenyans want former Prime Minister Raila Odinga  to remain politically active and even possibly contest the presidency again, according to a new Ipsos-Synovate poll.

However, 29 per cent want him to remain in active politics but not contest any seat.

The poll further showed 36 per cent of Kenyans want the former PM to retire from politics altogether. Ipsos-Synovate senior researcher Tom Wolf said the respondents from across the country were almost evenly split between the three options presented to them. The polls showed that respondents from Central, Eastern and Rift Valley regions at 66 per cent, 44 per cent and 38 per cent respectively felt that Raila’s political career should end while those in Coast and Nyanza at 46 per cent and 48 per cent respectively felt his future in politics is still bright.

After the former PM lost in the March 4 General Election to President Uhuru Kenyatta, there were reports he would return to Parliament, together with his CORD partner former Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka.

Uhuru won the presidency with 50.07 per cent beating Raila, who polled 43.31 per cent of the 12.3 million votes cast. After the polls, Raila was said to be needed back in Parliament to steer opposition politics. He was supposed to head back to Parliament through a by-election at a constituency represented by an ODM MP, some who were willing to step down for him.

Active politics

The former premier has given all indications that he is not just about to withdraw from active politics and may again make a stab at the presidency.

In a recent excusive interview with The Standard, Raila said his focus now was to strengthen CORD alliance and hinted he is not yet done with politics.

Recently, he stated that Independent Elections and Boundaries Commission, as currently constituted, should not be allowed to conduct the next polls and blamed it for malpractices in the March 4 polls.

Raila has been Kenya’s most influential politician making tremendous influence on the country’s political discourse for more than a decade. His defeat in last elections was big blow to many.