Mombasa senator Hassan Omar addressing the press after his campaign truck was attacked last week. He has dismissed the recent opinion polls as being sponsored by Governor Hassan Joho. [PHOTO/nation.co.ke.]
Mombasa Senator and governor aspirant Hassan Omar has dismissed the recent survey showing that he was trailing Hassan Joho with less than five per cent of the total Mombasa vote.
According to the poll carried out by Infotrack, the incumbent Hassan Joho of ODM is leading leading with 63.2 per cent ahead of second-placed Suleiman Shahbal of the Jubilee Party with 15.3 while Omar comes a distant third with 4.8 per cent.
Vibrant Democratic Party’s Hezron Awiti sweeps from behind with 0.5 per cent of the vote.
Omar has however said the poll was funded by Joho to re-energise the governor's campaigns.
“We are aware that these polls are sponsored by Joho and are released when the governor’s rating is sliding in order to create a narrative of victory,” said the Wiper candidate as quoted by Nation.
“Joho is also dividing the National Super Alliance constituency to show that there is no meaningful competition from Nasa.”
Awiti has similarly laughed off the poll, arguing that it is only voters who will decide their next next governor.
“If I got 18,000 votes when I contested the Nyali parliamentary seat in 2013, what of now when I want to be governor? This is a joke.Those attempting to sway voters with such polls are in for a shock,” he said.
Shahbal was also on Joho's throat.
“Joho cannot get that number of votes. We dismiss the survey with the contempt it deserves,” said a statement from his office.
However when contacted for comment, Joho’s director of communications Richard Chacha said that the governor never commissioned the poll.
“We were busy campaigning. In fact, we feel we are far ahead of the 63 per cent the survey gave us,” he said.