Opposition leader Raila Odinga has revealed that he is not contemplating the 2027 general election.
Speaking on Wednesday, Raila views the four-year horizon as too early to engage in campaign considerations.
Raila, who is also the Azimio la Umoja coalition principal, asserted that participating in the 2027 election would be futile unless the reforms advocated by the opposition were implemented.
These reforms encompass the crucial reconstitution of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and a steadfast commitment to the principles outlined in the Political Parties Act.
“We are still concerned with what happened in 2022. Unless we resolve it properly, it will be useless for anybody to run in 2027.”
“Unless we sort out properly that mess we had, we cannot have a proper electoral commission that can preside over an election and give you real results,” Raila said during the interview.
In November, Raila cautioned elected and aspiring politicians of the party against engaging in early 2027 campaigns, saying it was detrimental to the current elected leaders.
The opposition chief said he has noticed a lot of interest in the party, with aspiring and sitting politicians across the country already having hit the campaign four years from the next general elections.
“It is a development that is actually retrogressive in some parts of the country. The issue of early campaigns.”
He said this phenomenon is most rampant in the Coast, Upper Eastern, Northeastern, Nairobi, Nyanza and Western Kenya regions.
He said it’s unfortunate that some elected party members are already thinking about the 2027 elections, barely a year after being elected into office at the August 2022 elections.
“We have four more years to go, and this is bringing a lot of tension among our members. People are campaigning because they want to be MCAs. People who were elected MCAs are campaigning to be MPs. They have hardly served the people to qualify,” Raila said.
He spoke while issuing the party’s official position on the bipartisan dialogue report.