Raila Odinga maintains a narrow advantage over Vice President Ruto a few days before the presidential elections in Kenya

July 29 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Kenyan presidential candidate Raila Odinga leads the opinion polls ahead of the elections on August 9 with almost two points difference over his great rival and vice president of the country, William Ruto.

Odinga, leader of the Azimio La Umoja coalition and ally of the outgoing president, Uhuru Kenyatta, obtains a 46.7 percent voter intention compared to 44.4 percent for his rival and leader of the so-called United Democratic Alliance, according to a Tifa’s opinion poll collected this Friday by the Kenyan newspaper ‘The Nation’.

However, the survey also shows that Ruto has cut in recent weeks the difference of three that Odinga took from him in a previous Tifa survey.

It must be remembered that the presence of two other candidates, the professor, George Wajackoya, of the Raíces party and Mwaure Waihiga, of the Agano party, opens the clear possibility that neither Odinga nor Ruto can secure the 50 percent of votes plus one that guarantees victory. in the first round.

On Odinga weighs the legacy of the outgoing president, of whom the citizens, according to those surveyed, applaud his work in infrastructure and security, although they reproach him for the increase in the price of life, debt and unemployment.

Kenyatta has expressed his support for Odinga ahead of the presidential elections after distancing himself from Ruto after his re-election for a second term in 2018. Odinga chose Martha Karua as his electoral running mate, while Ruto has chosen Rigathi Gachagua, who was an advisor of Kenyatta between 2001 and 2006, as a candidate for Vice President.

The main contenders for the presidential elections in Kenya have promised to ask their supporters to refrain from resorting to violence during the electoral campaign in the face of what happened in the 2017 elections, which resulted in fifty deaths and more than hundred wounded.