Moi University political scientist Gideon Mamboleo believes the life span of the Orange Democratic Movement party will be determined by Suna East MP Junet Mohammed who doubles as the party’s director of Elections.
The Orange party has been dominant in the last two Parliaments and produced a speaker after the hotly contested 2007 elections.
And in a telephone interview on Wednesday to assess the chances of both Jubilee and ODM in the 12th Parliament, Mamboleo said the opposition's ability to control both the Parliament and Senate remained solely on ODM party nominations.
“When I try to look at the two major parties, I still believe that ODM will continue dominating the House when it comes to single party representation. It controls many regions across the country than its competitors,” he said.
”However, Junet will be the determinant. He has an opportunity to ensure free and fair nominations or dish out tickets to lieutenants who may weaken the party’s representation in both Houses,” he added.
According to Mamboleo, the Raila Odinga-led party should improvise different methods of conducting primaries to save the last opportunity to control both the National Assembly, the Senate and even ascend to the presidency.
“Even if Raila wins the presidency, it will be nothing without proper representation in Parliament. Junet should look for better ways of holding party primaries than what we have seen before,” he said.