The Kisumu gubernatorial race heat is rising with one year left to the 2017 polls.
Two leading aspirants for the seat, incumbent Jack Ranguma and his fiercest critic Senator Prof Anyang' Nyong'o have received backing from two different factions of the Luo elders.
On Sunday, a group of 74 elders led by Benjamin Awuondo endorsed Mr Ranguma for the second term with Ocholla Ogoda touted as his running mate, a move that will even complicate the jigsaw as all indicators show that the current Deputy Governor Ruth Odinga is not in their 2017 plan.
On the other side, Prof Nyong'o has been endorsed by another group of elders.
These latest developments are seemingly giving Mr Ranguma sleepless nights even as the race for the county's top seat continues to attract many other aspirants with Ruth Odinga giving all indicators that she is running for the seat.
Mr Ranguma, however, exudes confidence that he is going to retain the seat because his development record speaks for itself.
He also has the backing of Kisumu Town East MP Shakeel Shabbir and his Muhoroni counterpart Onyango K'Oyoo.
The race has even been made more complex by the fact that the two want to contest on an ODM ticket.