Political analyst Prof Herman Manyora has lauded ThirdWay Alliance party following the approval of the first stage of its referendum push dubbed 'Punguza Mizigo'.
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) on Thursday approved 1.2 million of the party's signatures, with the minimum requirement being 1 million signatures.
Speaking on Saturday, he observed that the party boss Ekuru Aukot has shown his power, beating some of the leading political figures in the nation who have made similar bids.
"Congratulations to the Third Way Alliance. Congratulations to Ekuru Aukot for achieving 1.2 million signatures," he said on his Take It or Leave It YouTube analysis channel on Saturday.
He said that the same comes as a defeat to opposition boss Raila Odinga, Wiper Democratic Movement (WDM) leader Kalonzo Musyoka and Ford Kenya's Moses Wetangula.
This, he said, is with the consideration that the group made a similar attempt under the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) ahead of the 2017 polls, which flopped.
"This is a fit that CORD under Raila Odinga, Moses Wetangula and Kalonzo Musyoka were unable to do. We remember the days of cows and elephants instead of signatures," he added.
Raila's referendum push flopped after IEBC rejected the presented signatures on grounds that many were unrealistic, and the tenderers had presented funny images as signatures.
The push was dubbed 'Okoa Kenya'.
Aukot's bid is set to be taken to the county assemblies, where it should be supported by a minimum of 24 of the 47 assemblies to proceed into a referendum.