Raila Odinga Kenya’s veteran politician has been confirmed as the main opposition coalition’s presidential candidate for August’s election.
Mr Odinga, 72, is set to face incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta, the man who beat him in 2013.
This will be the fourth time Mr Odinga runs for president.
He also ran in the disputed 2007 poll. The violence that followed led to the creation of a unity government in which Mr Odinga served as prime minister.
Raila Odinga will represent the National Super Alliance (Nasa), which is a coalition of the country’s main opposition parties including the candidate’s Orange Democratic Movement.
The announcement was made at a rally at Uhuru Park in the capital, Nairobi.
Thousands of opposition supporters turned up and live video footage from the rally showed them breaking out into wild cheers as Mr Odinga’s name was read out.
His running mate will be former Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka.
Raila Amolo Odinga also popularly known to his supporters as Agwambo (meaning the “Mysterious One”), Tinga (Luo and Swahili for “tractor”), Baba (Swahili for “father”), RAO, (abbreviated form of “Raila Amolo Odinga”) and Jakom (Luo for “Chairman”) is a Kenyan politician who was Prime Minister of Kenya from 2008 to 2013.
He was first elected as the Member of Parliament for Langata in 1992, serving as Minister of Energy from 2001 to 2002 and as Minister of Roads, Public Works, and Housing from 2003 to 2005.
He was the main opposition candidate in the 2007 presidential election, running against incumbent Mwai Kibaki.
Following a violence-marred election and post-poll crisis, Odinga was appointed Prime Minister in April 2008 in a power-sharing deal with Mwai Kibaki, serving as Supervisor and Coordinator of a national unity coalition government.
In the subsequent presidential election 5 years later he placed second against Uhuru Kenyatta, Kibaki’s favoured successor, garnering 5,340,546 votes, which represented 43.28% of the total votes cast.
Son of the first Vice President of Kenya, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, the family has drawn unwavering support from its Luo constituency Luo, a tribe whose rivalry with the Kikuyu has defined a big part of Kenya’s post-Independence history.
Raila is commonly known by his first name due to coincidence: he was an MP at the same time as his father between 1992 and 1994.
Raila Odinga first ran as a presidential contender in the 1997 elections, coming third after President Daniel arap Moi of KANU and Mwai Kibaki of the Democratic Party.
He contested for President again in the December 2007 elections on an Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) ticket.
