Nairobi News

Hassan Omar will likely beat Mr Abdulswamad Shariff in the Mombasa gubernatorial race, an opinion poll commissioned by Mizani Africa indicates.

Mr Omar, who served as Mombasa’s first Senator, is contesting on a United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party ticket. The polls indicate he has a 42.2% approval.

Mr Shariff meanwhile, a member of the Orange Democratic Movement. (ODM) and the current Mvita lawmaker, is second at 40.5 %.

He is the Azimio la Umoja coalition’s candidate for the seat in the coastal-based county.

Mr William Kingi, the county’s outgoing deputy governor, is third on the list with a rating of 10.6 % while 5% of the voters are yet to make a decision on who is their candidate of choice.

Omar’s surge in popularity comes days after former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko who was eyeing the Mombasa Governorship seat but was stopped by the courts announced he will back him.

In the senate seat, Mr Mohammed Faki of ODM will likely win the race as he has a popularity of 42.8%.

Mr Faki is the current Senator of Mombasa County, a position he assumed in 2017.

Mr Hamisi Mwaguya is the second most favorite candidate as he managed to get a popularity of 30.4% while the third on the list is Mr Abdulsalam Kassim whose rating was put at 13.8 percent.

The fourth, fifth and sixth positions were taken by Mr Mohammed Amir (4.5 %), Mr Cornelius Muuke (2.2 %), Ms Hazel Nyamoki (2.0 %) and Alami Siwa (1.8 %).

In the woman representative race, a total of six women have declared their candidature to unseat Ms Asha Hussein.

Ms Hussein, a member of ODM was not picked after opinion polls by the party favored Ms Zamzam Mohammed who is now the most preferred candidate as she has a popularity of 39.8 %.

The second position was taken by Ms Fatma Barayan of UDA party who had a popularity of 30.1 % and the third position was taken by Ms Amina Abdalla whose popularity was put at 13.8 %.

Ms Hamisa Maalim, Ms Esther Koske and Ms Lubna Nassir were ranked in the fourth, fifth and sixth positions.