Kenyans vote in tight, tense elections

At Moi Avenue Primary School, the largest polling station in the city, voter Calvin Otieno, 27, joined the queue shortly after midnight.

“Everyone has a right to vote and we should all be ready to accept the results. There is no need to fight because of elections. We are all Kenyans irrespective of tribe. If we fight, will any of the candidates come to bring us food in our houses?” he said.

In Kenyatta’s home town Gatundu, north of Nairobi, a voter who identified herself only as Gathoni arrived early to “vote for my favourite president”, who will himself cast his ballot at the polling station later in the morning.

There are more than 19 million registered voters in the nation of 48 million. Half are aged under 35.

More than 150,000 security forces — including wildlife, prison and forestry officers — have been deployed for the vote, which ends at 5pm (1400 GMT).

– Dynastic rivalry –

Kenyans will vote in six different elections, choosing governors, lawmakers, senators, county officials and women’s representatives in local races also rife with tension.

However all eyes are on what is set to be the last showdown of a dynastic rivalry that has lasted more than half a century since the presidential candidates’ fathers Jomo Kenyatta and Jaramogi Odinga went from allies in the struggle for independence to bitter rivals.

The men belong to two of the country’s main ethnic groups, Kenyatta from the Kikuyu, the largest, and Odinga from the Luo.

Both have secured formidable alliances with other influential communities in a country where voting takes place largely along tribal lines.

Kenyatta, 55, is seeking re-election after a first term in which he oversaw a massive infrastructure drive and steady economic growth of more than five percent.

However he is also criticised for soaring food prices — with prices jumping 20 percent year-on-year in May — and massive corruption scandals on his watch.

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