Infotrak On Spot After Deleting Twitter Poll On ‘Preferred Presidential Runningmate’

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 20- Research and Consulting firm Infotrak is on spot, after deleting a Twitter poll on the preferred presidential running mate.

At the point of deleting, more than 50,000 Twitter accounts had participated in the poll.

This was after Tuesday’s deputy presidential running mate debate, which was televised across all media houses.

Kenya Kwanza Deputy Presidential running mate Rigathi Gachagua was leading in the poll at 61.8 percent, followed by Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Alliance running mate Martha Karua.

Karua was in the second position having garnered 29.1 percent of ‘votes cast’, when Infotrak deleted the poll.

No explanation was offered by the research firm.

Kenyans on Twitter have condemned the move, saying it is likely to hurt their credibility.

Among those who raised concerns included the Consumers Federation of Kenya Secretary General, Stephen Mutoro.

That @Infotrakltd deleted these results from their handle goes to confirm their fake and vague Infotrak polls. Why get embarrassed with reality that goes against what you have all along been parroting against Gachagua, others. You can't cage the truth for too long. #Infotrakpoll pic.twitter.com/wPBSgePGjb

— Stephen Mutoro (@smutoro) July 20, 2022

There are however those who sought to justify the move like blogger Abraham Mutai.

Twitter Polls are not scientific. They are mostly manipulated and polls are bought, added to make one party appear winning. I know those who are in this business that's why #Infotrakpoll deleting their tweet was the most wise decision they made.

— Lord Abraham Mutai (@ItsMutai) July 20, 2022

Mutoro said Infotrak should offer an explanation for their move. The Tweet poll had been shared by more than 1,000 accounts.

While admitting the Twitter polls are not scientific, he questioned the rationale for commissioning such a survey only to delete its results.

Why shld #Infotrakpoll be deleted after realising that the results don't favour their preferred candidate?

Professionalism would call for a fact check by doing another poll. Does it ansa to the allegations always levelled against its polls? pic.twitter.com/xeYqq8G5Xy

— MULINDI OSOME (@mulindi_osome) July 20, 2022