'Handshake to Power, or Kiss of Political Death?' A Central Question of this Election

Kenya Kwanza presidential candidate William Ruto votes. [Standard}

Among the many important questions about yesterday's election, is this: Will the energetic endorsement given to Raila Odinga by outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta be a blessing or a course in his fifth - and almost certainly, final - attempt to enter State House.

Or to put it another way: Given Odinga's long history as the country's most steadfast opponent of the status quo/advocate for change (of whatever nature, and however extensive), and with a phalanx of dedicated followers, much of whose loyalty was derived from that intransigent stance and often very personally injurious stance, what will be the ultimate impact of the President's endorsement, given that their March 9, 2018 'handshake' led to the eager 'appropriation' of the opposition space Odinga and his ODM party were seen to vacate by William Ruto, the President's deputy over the last decade.