Opponent gains on Kibaki - survey
July 13 2007 at 02:34PM
Nairobi - Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki remains the favourite if the east African nation held elections now, but opposition leader Raila Odinga has gained ground, a quarterly opinion poll said on Friday.
Kibaki led with 45 percent support, down from 51 percent in the last poll, while Odinga rose to 25 percent from 17, according to the Steadman Group, an affiliate of Gallup International.
Kenya's fourth general election is expected in December.
Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement - Kenya (ODM-K) was the single most popular party, winning support from 38 percent of the 2 025 respondents questioned.
'ODM is certainly the most popular party'
For the first time, two parties associated with the president - the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) and National Ruling Coalition - Kenya, (NARC-Kenya) - jointly polled less than the opposition at 34 percent.
"ODM is certainly the most popular party," Steadman analyst Tom Wolf told a news conference. "For the first time since NARC-Kenya's arrival a year ago, it has suffered a decline."
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NARC-Kenya, formed in June 2006 by ministers close to Kibaki, was the second most popular party with 21 percent, down from 24 percent in the previous poll.
Despite the approach of the election date, Kibaki has yet to say which party he will run for, while ODM-K has yet to pick from among a number of would-be presidential candidates.
ODM-K frontrunners are Odinga and former Foreign Minister Kalonzo Musyoka, who was ranked the third most popular potential candidate by the Steadman poll, with 11 percent.
Both men were allies of Kibaki, but fell out with him when the president reneged on pre-election promises to devolve power.
In a Reuters interview on Thursday, Odinga said he feared the elections would not be free and fair, and accused the government of trying to manipulate the ballot, both by denying voters identity cards in opposition areas and by planning to increase the number of constituencies in areas where it had good support.
