A lifetime of battles: Raila Odinga's five stabs at the presidency

Raila Amolo Odinga will forever be immortalized in history books as a prolific leader whose style of politics traversed generations.

Despite being celebrated as a fierce pro-democracy campaigner, a champion of reforms, and a fountain of the political career of many leaders, Raila never achieved his goal of becoming Kenya's president, making valiant efforts five times. 

On August 15, 2022, at the Bomas of Kenya in Nairobi, the then IEBC Chairperson, the late Wafula Chebukati, announced the winner of a fiercely contested presidential election.

“William Samoei Ruto,” Chebukati declared, announcing the then Deputy President as the winner after garnering 7,176,141 votes against Raila Odinga’s 6,942,930 votes.

The declaration of Ruto as the fifth president confirmed Raila Odinga’s fifth loss in his quest to clinch the State House job.

The turn of events sent shockwaves across Raila Odinga’s political camp, with chaos erupting at the national tallying center as his supporters insisted he had won the election.

This was the fifth unsuccessful time Raila Odinga had run for the presidency, and each time, he alleged electoral fraud.

His first attempt was in 1997 when he contested as the National Development Party’s candidate. Raila finished third in the election, with the late Mwai Kibaki of the Democratic Party taking second place and the incumbent, Daniel Arap Moi of KANU, winning the election.

He skipped the presidential race in 2002 to support Mwai Kibaki but returned to the ballot in 2007 as a candidate for the Orange Democratic Movement.

Raila lost to Kibaki in a highly contested election that marked one of the darkest moments in Kenya’s political history. Allegations of vote rigging led to deadly demonstrations that claimed more than 1,100 lives and displaced about 350,000 people.

To end the post-election violence, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan brokered a power-sharing arrangement that led to the creation of a Grand Coalition Government, with Raila appointed Prime Minister.

Raila was back on the ballot for a third time in 2013, convinced that he would win the election. He put up a spirited campaign against Uhuru Kenyatta of The National Alliance (TNA).

Uhuru Kenyatta and his running mate William Ruto won the election with 50.51 percent of the total votes against Raila’s 43.7 percent.

Raila unsuccessfully contested the results at the Supreme Court, which upheld Kenyatta’s victory.

In 2017, during his fourth run for office, a landmark ruling by the Supreme Court changed the country’s political history.

Raila had lost again to Uhuru Kenyatta, who was re-elected with 54.17 percent of the vote, compared to Raila’s 44.94 percent.

Raila challenged the results at the Supreme Court, which subsequently annulled the election and ordered a fresh presidential poll within 60 days.

However, Raila boycotted the repeat election held on October 26, 2017, enabling Uhuru Kenyatta’s victory with an overwhelming 98.3 percent of the vote.

Raila said his decision to stay away was informed by claims that the IEBC had no intention of implementing reforms to guarantee a credible process.

The Orange Democratic Movement leader and his supporters later organized a ceremony to swear him in as the “People’s President.” Miguna Miguna, who administered the oath, was deported, while Raila went on to enter a truce with his longtime political rival, Uhuru Kenyatta.

Raila would once again claim victory in the 2022 presidential election, where President William Ruto was declared the winner. This fifth loss would mark the last in his highly decorated political career.