Kenya general election: voters head to the polls
A lady casts her vote at a polling station at Oltepesi Primary School in Nairobi County, Kenya, August 9, 2022. © AP Photo/Ben Curtis
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
Polling stations opened at 6 a.m. local time (5 a.m. GMT) in Kenya for the general elections.
More than 22 million voters are called to the polls to vote six times: for local elected officials (governors, senators or even deputies), but also for their future president.
An expected duel between William Ruto, outgoing vice-president, and Raila Odinga, a veteran of Kenyan political life.
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With our correspondent in Nairobi,
Florence Morice
In the neighborhoods of Kibera and Kilimani this Tuesday morning where we went, the vote started calmly and on time this Tuesday morning, even if some delays in the opening were reported in the country.
At the Olympic school in the Kibera district, one of the cradles of the protest in 2017. The queues had formed in the middle of the night and the voters to whom RFI spoke say they are confident in the fact that the process will be peaceful this year.
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To read also
: in Kenya, the Electoral Commission under pressure
Same tone at Kilimani Primary School, still in Nairobi.
Voting takes place peacefully.
Kenyans have matured democratically, one voter hopes.
"
We don't have the means to add an electoral crisis to the economic crisis which is already hitting the country hard
," he explains.
It is therefore the tone this morning, but the distribution of material in the country yesterday was marred by a few incidents with ballot papers sent to the wrong place or errors on the photos of the candidates.
Results: the Electoral Commission canceled four local elections, including that for the post of governor in the large city of Mombasa in the east of the country.
In reaction, the party of
Raila Odinga
, one of the heavyweights of the competition, protested, because they consider that they are favorites in this large coastal city and that even if it concerns local elections, it could have an impact on the presidential election.
►
To read also:
Presidential in Kenya: the stakes of a poll which promises to be tight
The polling stations will close at 2 p.m. (UT).
General elections in Kenya: William Ruto, one of the presidential challengers, voted this Tuesday, August 9 in the polling station of the Kosachei primary school in Sugoi.
REUTERS - BAZ RATNER
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