Kenyans cast their votes
Kenyans line up to vote Tuesday at a polling station in the coastal city of Mombasa in the country’s presidential election. President Uhuru Kenyatta held a strong lead over rival Raila Odinga in early counts, officials said.
NAIROBI, Kenya — Polls closed Tuesday evening across Kenya after millions of people voted peacefully in an election pitting President Uhuru Kenyatta against challenger Raila Odinga in the East African country known for its stability but also its divided ethnic allegiances.
Long lines formed at many of Kenya’s more than 40,000 polling stations before dawn, but the Kenyan election commission tweeted in the evening that the balloting concluded “with minimal hitches.”
Some sites remained open to process people still waiting to cast their votes.
Early today, Kenyatta led with just over 55 percent and opposition leader Odinga with nearly 44 percent after votes were counted from more than two- thirds of the 40,833 polling stations.
But the election commission did not release information about which constituencies had been counted, so it was unclear whether Kenyatta strongholds or opposition centers, or some combination, had yet to be tallied from Tuesday’s vote. That prompted sharp criticism from Odinga.
“A clean credible process would by now have a dashboard showing all tallies from all constituencies to add to a sum total so that country can know which part of the country has been counted and what the votes are,” Odinga said today in a statement.
Election officials acknowledged his objection but defended their actions.
Authorities hope to avoid the postelection violence of a decade ago when ethnic divisions fueled unrest that killed more than 1,000 people. A 2013 vote was mostly peaceful despite opposition allegations of vote- tampering.
In addition to the bitterly contested presidential race, more than 1,800 elected positions were at stake, including governors, legislative representatives and county officials. By law, election officials have up to a week to announce results, though many analysts believe the outcome of the presidential race will be declared far sooner, possibly within one or two days.
Former U. S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who is the chief election observer for The Carter Center, described it as “an inspiring day in Kenya watching democracy in action.”
“Enthusiastic voters not fazed by long lines,” he tweeted.
Three polling stations in the Laikipia area were “affected by insecurity,” but security forces restored order and polling resumed, the election commission said.
Kenyatta, the 55- year- old son of Kenya’s first president after independence from British colonial rule, campaigned on a record of major infrastructure projects, many backed by China, and claimed strong economic growth. Odinga, 72, also the son of a leader of the independence struggle, has cast himself as a champion of the poor and a harsh critic of endemic corruption.
However, many voters were expected to vote along ethnic lines. Kenyatta is widely seen as the candidate of the Kikuyu people, the country’s largest ethnic group. Odinga is associated with the Luo voting bloc, which has never produced a head of state. There are six other presidential candidates, though they lack the wide support of the top two.
Kenyatta and Odinga also faced off in the 2013 election. Kenyatta won by a thin margin, with just over 50 percent of the vote; Odinga alleged voting irregularities and took his case to Kenya’s highest court, which ruled in Kenyatta’s favor by validating the results.