Cord denies swaying opinion polls

By Geoffrey Mosoku

NAIROBI,KENYA: Cord presidential hopeful Prime Minister Raila Odinga has refuted claims that his party has been swaying opinion polls in their favor.

The PM denied claims by some of their opponents that the Cord alliance was behind last week’s Infotrak opinion polls which placed his candidature at 51 per cent against Jubilee’s 39 per cent as Musalia Mudavadi’s Amani coalition was rated at 3 per cent.

Raila stated that Cord does not control opinion polls.

Speaking at the Orange house as he received Richard Onyonka and Joseph Lekuton who formally joined with the orange party, Raila said that added that he agrees with Infotrak’s findings.

“People are now being asked whom they are voting for and those were findings of a scientific research and we have no reason at all to manufacture them,” Raila said adding that Cord was a national alliance and not a tribal grouping.

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Jubilee presidential nominee Uhuru Kenyatta and his running mate William Ruto have since dismissed the findings saying the true opinion poll will be proven by Kenyans on election day.

Raila at the same time predicted a landslide victory for his side in the March 4 general election.

The PM said he is confident the Cord alliance will trounce their rivals by securing an emphatic 75 per cent victory in the first round of the polls.

He said in spite the jubilee coalition distributing what he termed the as misleading tribal figures to show that there strongholds hold number, the cord is more popular across the country.

“Its now coming out clear who the winners will be. After the launch of Cord in Uhuru Park and subsequent rallies in western the country is ready for a cord victory. I am seeing nothing less than 75 percent,” the PM said.

Raila’s comments were directed at some data of voters being circulated in the country to suggest that the Gema and Kalenjin communities total to about 6.4 million of the 14 million registered voters.

The Cord leader said that he was not a tribal leader and that he doesn’t consider himself a regional kingpin having represented a cosmopolitan constituency for the 20 years.

ODM chairman Henry Kosgey said the contest for leadership should not be tribal competition but competitions of ideas and policies.

Onyonka said although he had worked close with ODM for the last five years, he was now joining the Orange outfit.