Opposition leader Raila Odinga (left) and President Uhuru Kenyatta (right). [Photo/NairobiNews]

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Before Kenyans went to the polls, main rivals – Jubilee Party and The National Super Alliance (Nasa) – argued passionately on whether two Nyanza region counties were swing vote areas or strongholds.

The counties voted overwhelmingly for Raila Odinga of the opposition coalition in the 2013 general election.

They are Kisii and Nyamira counties.

Nyamira

In the 2013 election, 121,590 (66 per cent) voted for Mr Odinga of the Cord coalition; Odinga in ODM and his running mate Kalonzo Musyoka in Wiper Democratic Movement Party. 54,071 (29 per cent) voted for Uhuru Kenyatta of the Jubilee coalition; Uhuru in TNA and his running mate William Ruto in URP. The turnout for the presidential election, in Nyamira County, was 84 per cent.

In the just concluded 2017 election, President Kenyatta reaped big from Nyamira, beating Odinga.

Kenyatta garnered 106, 404 (52.08 per cent) votes, while Odinga managed 95,017 (46.50 per cent) of the votes in Nyamira.

The results can be attributed to the inroads the President made in the Nyanza region county.

Kisii

Kisii has once again proved to be a swing vote county.

The 2017 presidential results from Kisii shocked many, who thought Odinga would beat Kenyatta with a big margin.

The Jubilee Party leader garnered 174,978 votes (43.22 per cent) against Nasa’s 224,317 votes (55.40 per cent).

This was a massive improvement for the President, who got 95,596 (27.8 per cent) votes against Odinga’s 236,831 (68.8 per cent) votes in 2013.

Political analyst Dr Samuel Kiondi in an interview with The Daily Nation said Kenyatta’s inroads in the region paid off.

“The fact that they have elected local leaders from ODM and given a good number of votes to President Kenyatta is an indication that Gusii people are mature politically,” he said.