Violence fears on eve of Kenya poll

ELECTION: TOP OFFICIAL TORTURED, MURDERED

Kenyatta, Odinga lock horns amid claims of vote-rigging.

showdown of a dynastic rivalry between the Kenyatta and Odinga families that has lasted more than half a century.

The men belong to two of the country’s main ethnic groups, Kenyatta from the Kikuyu, the largest, and Odinga the Luo. Both have secured formidable alliances with other influential communities in a country where voting takes place largely along tribal lines.

Polls are so tight the vote is seen as too close to call and turnout will be crucial to either side’s success in the 48-million-strong East African nation.

The 72-year-old Odinga at the head of the National Super Alliance coalition is taking his fourth – and what many suspect will be his last – stab at the presidency. He claims both elections, in 2007 and 2013, were stolen from him and is adamant Kenyatta’s Jubilee Party is trying to do the same this time around.

Mounting opposition distrust of the electoral commission has seen Odinga crying foul and urging his supporters to “protect their vote”.

Both candidates are so certain of victory that Nic Cheeseman, professor of African politics at Birmingham University, warns they may have “talked themselves into a corner” in which defeat is not an option.

“It seems almost inevitable that whoever loses will question the result. The question is not whether or not they will accept the result, but what they will do when they don’t accept it,” he told AFP.

Odinga claimed there was rigging but took his complaints to the courts instead of the streets and despite a few riots after he lost his case, the process ended peacefully.

Kenyatta, 55, is seeking re-election after a first term in which he and his Jubilee Party were credited with a massive infrastructure drive and overseeing steady economic growth.

However, polls show voters concerned about soaring food prices and massive corruption scandals. More than 19 million Kenyans are registered to vote at more than 40 000 polling stations. Voting will start at 6am and close at 5pm. – AFP