The leading presidential candidates in Kenya’s general election, Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga, appear to have adopted similar campaign strategies — splitting up into several campaign teams to capture the 19 million votes up for grabs.

Jubilee campaigns have been split into two — run by presidential and party campaign teams — while Mr Odinga has formed four presidential campaign teams, each headed by one of the co-principals in the National Super Alliance, Nasa.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission is expected to clear the two candidates this weekend and pave the way for the launch of a presidential campaigns and consequent release of their manifestos.

Mr Odinga has taken the launch of his presidential bid to Kakamega in western Kenya where the coalition’s manifesto will also be launched.

President Kenyatta and Mr Odinga have cleared all the hurdles on their way to the ballot box compared with their competitors running as independent candidates after they presented the required number of signatures of voters backing their ambitions as required by law.

There are 18 candidates gunning for the presidency but opinion polls have predicted a two-horse race due to the large voting blocks that the president and Mr Odinga control.

President Kenyatta will on May 31 hold a major rally in Mombasa to launch his flagship and key infrastructure project, the standard gauge railway, upon return from a G7 meeting.

The Jubilee campaigners, dubbed “Team Uhuruto”, will also be split into different teams headed by the President himself, Deputy President William Ruto, National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale, Majority Leader in the Senate Prof Kindiki Kithure among other key leaders. charged with hunting for votes in various parts of the country.

According to the Nasa plan, four campaign teams will spearhead campaigns across the country with the presidential candidate free to join any team.