President Uhuru Kenyatta was on Friday night declared the winner of the just concluded General Election beating Opposition leader Raila Odinga.
In the hotly contested race, Kenyatta a managed to beat his opponent with an 11 percent gap which is higher than that of the 2013 Election.
To edge out the tough competition, President Kenyatta seems to have efficiently employed five strategies that eventually garnered him 8,203,290 votes.
1. Protecting stronghold
Going by the final tally from various counties, Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto gained massive support from counties perceived to be their strongholds since the last polls.
The two managed to maintain a grip on their supporters ensuring that the Opposition did not gain more votes in those areas than they did in 2013.
2. Raiding NASA zones
In the concluded polls, the Jubilee Party received surprising support in regions thought to be NASA backyards including the Coast, Western and South Nyanza counties.
Though Odinga had majority support in these areas, Kenyatta saw a tremendous increase in the number of votes he received compared to the previous election.
Some of these counties include Mombasa, Kwale, Wajir, Bungoma, Kisii, Nyamira among others where Jubilee also got some elective seats.
3. Promise to Support DP Ruto in 2022
Another factor that ensured Kenyatta maintained his support is expressing his support for DP Ruto during the 2022 elections.
This especially enabled him to consolidate his support the vote-rich Rift Valley region and protected into from invasion by the Opposition.
4. Massive advertising
Towards the end of the campaign period, the government employed massive advertising and showcasing of the various projects implemented in the last four year including the SGR, roads, equipment to hospitals, free maternity services among others.
This also saw several other Cabinet Secretaries attend interviews on national and vernacular radio stations drumming up support for the government.
5. Exploiting NASA Weaknesses
Throughout the campaign period, the President and his deputy seemingly embarked on exploiting National Super Alliance (NASA) weaknesses such as infightings within the Opposition to gain popularity.
For instance, in some of the NASA strongholds Jubilee penetrated, the Coalition had disagreements on who to nominate for various posts which had candidates from parties within Opposition such as Mombasa, Kwale and Bungoma.
