The Luhya community will vote for President Uhuru Kenyatta's Jubilee Party if Amani National Congress leader Musalia Mudavadi's name won't appear on the presidential ballot paper, political analysts have said.
Mudavadi who contested for the presidency in 2013 and emerged a distant third after Uhuru and ODM's Raila Odinga envisages at taking another stab at the top seat in the August 2017 polls.
The Luhya community has an estimated three million votes and presidential candidates are looking forward to tap votes from the populous region.
"Mudavadi’s safest bet is Luhya unity first – that the community will be going into the opposition alliance with a force," political analyst Charles Werangai said on Tuesday as quoted by the Star.
"This is the only way to remove Raila from Western and create a plank for himself and the community."
Mudavadi still commands a huge fraction of supporters from Western although he garnered fewer votes compared to Mr Odinga in 2013.
The ANC leader is currently in talk with Cord leaders Mr Odinga, Kalonzo Musyoka and Moses Wetangula and Kanu Chairman Gideon Moi to form a National Super Alliance that will take on Uhuru's Jubilee Party in 2017.
Two weeks ago, he told the Cord leaders to speed up the talks as time was running out.
Former Medical Services Minister Dr Amukowa Anangwe said Mudavadi will play a pivotal role in ensuring the opposition gets majority votes.
"To the extent that Raila Odinga remains the opposition presidential torchbearer, Mudavadi is bound to lose the Luhya support, many of whom may opt for Jubilee to spite the opposition for marginalising him," Anangwe said on Tuesday.
He argues that the Luhya community will rally behind the opposition alliance hoping Mr Mudavadi will be chosen presidential candidate.
Anangwe also said Wetangula's hopes of becoming the opposition's presidential candidate had deemed.
"The goose is already cooked and he should brace himself for the worst case scenario, that is, playing second fiddle to Raila and Mudavadi in the opposition," he told the Star.