Latest opinion polls on the highly anticipated Kibra by-election from Strategic Governance Group Kenya (SGG-K) show that Eliud Owalo of Amani National is headed for a landslide win with a 15 point lead over his closest challenger.
A report from the pollster seen by this publication shows Owalo enjoys the confidence of 44 per cent of voters in Kibra while his closest rival Bernard Okoth of Orange Democratic Movement rates at 29 per cent. Following at a distant third is MacDonald Mariga of Jubilee Party 16 per cent.
The polls also captured a cumulative 6 per cent rating for the rest of more than twenty other candidates running on various parties and as independent candidates, while undecided voters are 5 per cent.
The most pressing issues highlighted in the poll are the high cost of living, rampant insecurity, unemployment and poor infrastructure. Owalo was consistently cited as the top candidate by respondents likely to bring resolutions to these problems.
The survey which was undertaken 24 and 25 of October established Owalo’s support transcends political parties and ethnicity.
Voters in Kibra go to the poll on November 7th in a contest that has captured national attention.
The poll was commissioned internally by an local NGO doing social work in Kibra shows the ODM Party enjoys a majority popularity followed by the Jubilee and ANC parties at 38, 26 and 21 percent respectively.
The sampling are drawn from a survey conducted from a sample of 1,526 registered voters in Kibra, among them 823 women and 703 men living in the five wards of Kibra.
The margin-of-error attributed to sampling and other random effects for the entire sample is +/- 1.8 with a 97% confidence level.
It emerged that most respondents failed to rate Mariga due to his relative new political brand. Most decried the fact Mariga is not registered voter in the constituency and only voting for the first time.
Okoth, who fancied himself as a handshake candidate, appears to have been shunned by most voters, probably due to his record as the Constituency Manager in the last two terms.
Majority of residents also say they have yet to feel the benefits of the surprise peace deal reached between President Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga following contentious general elections in 2017 leading to their public handshake in March 2018.
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