The August General Election is just three weeks away and both Jubilee Party and the National Super Alliance(NASA) have intensified campaigns in areas they deem crucial to the presidential race.
According to statistics, the areas that are key to the race between President Uhuru Kenyatta and NASA flag bearer Raila Odinga are the former Coast and Western provinces, Narok, Kajiado, Kisii and Baringo counties.
Kenyatta and his main challenger Odinga have both visited the Western region six and five times respectively in just one month, signifying how crucial the voting bloc could be.
The coast is mainly considered an Opposition stronghold due to the presence of vocal Mombasa governor Ali Hassan Joho who has always rallied behind Odinga.
Jubilee has however tried to make inroads visiting the area three times from the end of May and has also pitched camp in Narok and Kajiado counties.
Nyamira and Kisii counties have also been visited a couple of times by the two parties with the same happening in Baringo County.
On Wednesday, Jubilee Party vice-chairman David Murathe said the President and his deputy have been targeting areas that were opposition backyards in 2013 but have since shown signs of warming up to the government.
He named the areas as western Kenya, Coast and Kisii counties.
"It is the potential for harvesting votes, particularly in former hostile areas, which we can now convert into swing areas. You can see what we are doing in western Kenya, Coast and Kisii areas,” he asserted.
Regarding Narok County, he said the party had eliminated the obstacle which cost them votes in the last elections.
“Narok is now okay because our challenge last time was splitting votes between TNA and URP. Now we are one party,” Murathe assured.
NASA's national campaign committee executive director Kibisu Kabatesi explained that the number of rallies in a particular region was determined by information received from campaign team coordinators across the country.
“We draw the campaign schedule based on the analysis we have made based on information from our team on the ground,” he said.
