Conflicting polls place Kenya's main presidential candidates in the lead

An opinion poll in Kenya on Sunday placed the main opposition leader Raila Odinga in the lead in the upcoming elections, hours after another pollster suggested that the incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta was slightly ahead.

Polling firm, Infotrak Harris, says Odinga scored a point lead over Kenyatta with 47 per cent and 43 per cent respectively after sampling 2,000 Kenyan registered voters.

“Raila has reduced the number of undecided in his strongholds,” the firm’s head Angela Ambitho told the media.

The results of the July 16 to 22 poll was released two hours after that of the Ipsos polling firm which sampled 2,209 people and placed Kenyatta in the lead with 47 per cent and Odinga behind with 43 per cent. “It is really a dead heat right now – a tie statistically. And what will decide who wins in the first round is the number of undecided,” Ambitho added.

Even if this is anything to go by, the August 8 election will be the deciding factor.

Kenyans go to the polls on August 8 to vote for a new president. Eight candidates are contesting in the tensed election that has two favourites – President Uhuru Kenyatta of the Jubilee Party and Raila Odinga of the National Super Alliance (NASA).