Presidential candidates release final campaign plan

Five days to Tuesday's General Election and presidential candidates are entering the final push to woo the 22.1 million registered voters to back their bids to succeed President Uhuru Kenyatta and be Kenya’s fifth commander-in-chief.

With pollsters having ranked undecided voters at between 4 percent and 6 percent the candidates are sparing no effort in trying to sway them to their side as each seeks to get a decisive victory.

The past few days have seen Kenyans treated to high-energy rallies as the presidential candidates traverse the country in search of much-needed votes, and specifically undecided voters who could be crucial in tilting the vote.

With 5 days left, the two main rivals Azimio’s Raila Odinga and UDA’s William Ruto have seemingly retreated to areas they consider to be their strongholds with their campaign message similar -- a call for a 100 percent turnout on polling day as they move to mop up their supporters into one basket.

Azimio La Umoja One Kenya presidential candidate Raila Odinga has a tight schedule. On Thursday he will retreat to his Kisumu backyard for a major rally at the Jomo Kenyatta International stadium. On Friday, the Azimio campaign will navigate through Lamu, Malindi and Mombasa Counties with major rallies at Lamu Island, Malindi Town and the Tononoka grounds.

On the final day of campaigns on Saturday, the Azimio caravan will be stationed in the capital Nairobi at the Kasarani International Sports Centre where Odinga will make his final plea

His main rival in the race, the country’s second in command and UDA presidential candidate William Ruto has a series of rallies lined up. Thursday the team will snake through Makueni, Kilifi and Mombasa Counties their tour coming a day before their Azimio competitors pitch tent there.

On Friday, the Kenya Kwanza team will return to the mountain with rallies in Laikipia, Nyandarua and Nakuru counties. As the campaigns enter the penultimate period, Ruto will lead the teams final rallies in Narok and Nairobi counties.

“The two targets is to maximise turn out in the strongholds but there could be a part of the country where you have 100 percent support but not many voters so you want to invest this remaining precious hours and days in places where the vote basket is the highest and maybe looking at the turn out rates in the previous elections to know how the turnout has been of course they vary based on the presidential candidate and the running mate, but it is clear they will concentrate on areas with the highest votes…,” explains Researcher Tom Wolf.

Roots Party presidential candidate George Wajakoya will on Thursday woo Meru voters before moving to Western Kenya on Friday with his team yet to confirm the venue for their final rally on Saturday.

The Agano Party which has been traversing parts of the country in search of votes has a scheduled press conference at its secretariat offices along Ngong Road to address the party’s concerns over the electoral process. On Friday, the team will grace Prophet Owour’s presidential candidates prayers in Kasarani and on Saturday Mwaure will lead his team in a meet the voters tour of Nairobi. Also lined up are various dedication services.