Winnie Odinga Explains Why Raila Lost Five Presidential Elections

EALA MP Winnie Odinga has explained why her late father, Raila Odinga, failed to clinch the presidency after five attempts to become Kenya’s president, despite repeatedly mounting strong political campaigns.

According to Winnie, who spoke during a media interview on Saturday, August 29, 2026, Raila’s failure to become president cannot be explained by votes alone. She argued that Kenya’s electoral system involves forces beyond popular support, suggesting that a candidate needs more than a successful campaign to reach State House.

“It depends how you want to answer that. Winning, I’m sure he won on several occasions, but he never became president,” Winnie said during the interview.

Winnie says winning votes was not enough

Winnie said getting enough votes was not necessarily the hardest part of a presidential campaign.

She explained that campaigns mainly involve identifying the problems affecting voters and offering solutions to those problems.

“Winning an election is not a very difficult thing,” she said.

According to Winnie, the bigger challenge comes after a candidate has won the support of voters. She said the systems and institutions that hold power can make it difficult for a candidate to ultimately reach State House.

“But the tools of power to get over, sometimes are much further away. How the system is designed, and not as easy to reach as simply just winning an election,” Winnie said.

Asked whether winning an election was therefore not simply about the number of votes a candidate received, Winnie gave a direct response.

“Well, absolutely not,” she said.

Winnie points to power

Asked what was needed beyond votes, Winnie gave a blunt answer: power.

She suggested that those who opposed her father’s presidential ambitions were not necessarily part of a single group. Instead, she said political outcomes can be influenced by many different actors within a wider system.

“Systems are controlled by very many different actors in this world,” she said.

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Her remarks come against the backdrop of Raila’s five presidential bids, each shaped by a different political contest and, in some cases, disputes over election results.

Raila first entered the presidential race in 1997, before making further bids in 2007, 2013, 2017 and 2022.

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In 2007, he ran against Mwai Kibaki in an election whose disputed outcome was followed by deadly post-election violence. A power-sharing deal later saw Raila become prime minister.

He challenged the 2013 presidential results after losing to Uhuru Kenyatta and again faced Kenyatta in 2017. Following the August 2017 election, the Supreme Court annulled Kenyatta’s victory and ordered a fresh poll. Raila boycotted the repeat election.

In 2022, Raila made his fifth and final presidential bid, this time under the Azimio la Umoja–One Kenya Coalition Party but lost to William Ruto.

Raila died in October 2025 aged 80, bringing an end to a political career spanning more than five decades.

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Late Prime Minister Raila Odinga