All but one opinion poll since September have put Odinga, left, ahead of Kibaki [Reuters]
Voters are
turning out
in large
numbers in
Kenya
despite
fears of
violence,
fanned by
the mob
killings in
the poll
campaign's
closing
stages of at
least three
policemen.
The officers
in the east
African
nation's
opposition
heartland
were accused
of taking
part in a
plan to rig
Thursday's
general
election in
favour of
Mwai Kibaki,
the
president.
Ten other
officers
were hurt in
western
Nyanza
province,
homeland of
Raila Odinga,
the
challenger
and
opposition
leader, the
authorities
said on
Wednesday.
He held a
narrow lead
over Kibaki
in opinion
polls before
the vote,
expected to
be Kenya's
closest
ever.
Al Jazeera's
Andrew
Simmons in
Nairobi said
that there
were queues
more than
one
kilometre
long to the
polling
stations.
"It is
chaotic.
There are
not enough
polling
stations to
go around
and there
are too many
people," he
said.
"But many
people here
say that
they have
never seen
numbers like
this. That
people are
energised
they feel so
strongly
that they
want to
vote."
Simmons said
that it is
likely that
polling
stations
will stay
open two
hours longer
than
expected at
the
recommendation
of EU
election
monitors.
Some 14
million of
Kenya's 36
million
people are
eligible to
vote in the
election.
Official
results are
expected
from Friday.
Local
broadcaster
KTN and
Odinga's
Orange
Democratic
Movement (ODM)
had accused
the
government
of
disguising
police as
party agents
to carry out
fraud at
polling
stations.
When
buses
carrying
officers
arrived
in
different
locations
of
Nyanza
from
Nairobi,
crowds
responded
angrily
and
threw
stones,
accusing
them of
a plot
to rig
the
polls,
witnesses
said.
"They
started
attacking
them.
One died
on the
spot,
another
on the
way to
hospital,"
police
spokesman
Eric
Kiraithe
said of
the
fracas
late on
Tuesday
in one
location,
Mbita.
The
other
confirmed
death
was on
Wednesday
morning.
A media
source
in
Nyanza,
who
asked
not to
be
named,
said
there
were in
fact
four
deaths,
while an
election
official
told
Reuters,
on
condition
of
anonymity,
nine
were
feared
killed.
Presidential
denial
With
Thursday's
presidential
and
parliamentary
vote
seen as
a big
test of
Kenya's
democratic
credentials
in a
continent
plagued
by
election
controversies,
Kibaki
denied
the
rigging
accusations
and
urged
Kenyans
to stay
calm.
"Let us
all
embrace
peace
and let
fair
play,
honesty
and
democracy
prevail,"
he said
in a
statement
on
Wednesday.
And a
government
spokesman
accused
the
media of
fomenting
the
violence
by
peddling
propaganda.
"The
mobs
killing
people
in
Nyanza
are
doing so
after ...
alarmist
and
unsubstantiated
rigging
media
claims,"
Alfred
Mutua
said.
Opposition supporters accuse the police of
trying to rig the vote in Kibaki's favour [AFP]
The
spokesman
said
anti-police
violence
was
spreading.
"In
Nyanza,
policemen
are
being
hunted
and
killed
... We
are
shocked
that
people
have set
up road
blocks
and are
removing
people
not from
there
from
buses."
One
Nyanza
resident,
who
identified
himself
only as
Peter,
confirmed
he had
been
among a
crowd
attacking
officers.
"Over 20
administration
police
officers
in
civilian
clothes
arrived
late on
Tuesday
in
Migori
on two
buses.
We
immediately
suspected
them and
started
beating
them,"
he told
Reuters.
KTN has
been
running
images
of
civilian
buses
taking
police
out of a
Nairobi
training
college
under
cover of
darkness.
It
quoted
sources
saying
the
police
were
stripped
of usual
ID and
given
letters
accrediting
them as
agents
of
Kibaki's
Party of
National
Unity (PNU)
to
access
voting
stations.
Odinga
said
"they
were
issued
each
with
1,000
pre-marked
ballot
papers
to be
stuffed
by
them".
"I've
appealed
to
President
Kibaki
to
prevail
on his
agents
against
election
rigging
acts
that
could
plunge
this
country
into
bloodshed."
Kibaki
said his
government
had
deployed
65,000
security
personnel
across
Kenya to
ensure
security
and "we
should
desist
from
harassing
or
obstructing
them".
Big
Men's
rule
In 2002,
the
country
experienced
a rarity
in
African
politics: the
broadly
peaceful
transition
of power
from one
"big
man"
ruler,
Daniel
arap Moi,
to
another,
Kibaki.
Since
coming
to power
in a
coalition
of big
men the
economy
has had
a
strong five
per cent
annual
growth
on
average
and
Kibaki
has
introduced
free
primary
education.
He also
has the
support
of his
economically
powerful
Kikuyu
tribe,
Kenya's
largest.
But
while
Kenya is
east
Africa's
economic
powerhouse,
more
than
half the
population
live in
poverty
and
Kibaki
is
accused
of not
effectively
tackling
issues
such as
corruption
and poor
infrastructure.
Odinga emerged after the anti-Kibaki orange
movement splintered [Reuters]
Many say
he has
an image
problem,
declining
all
media
interviews
on the
campaign
trail.
The big
men
allied
to him
when he
swept to
power
broke
away and
their
Orange
movement
hit the
president
with a
landslide
defeat
in a
constitutional
referendum
three
years
ago.
And
Odinga
has
emerged
as the
front-runner
after
the
orange
movement
splintered
and the
big men
went
their
separate
ways.
Odinga
has
the
ardent
backing
of
his
western
Luo
community,
but
has
also
garnered
support
from
other
ethnic
groups
who
think
the
Kikuyus
have
had
it
too
good
under
Kibaki.
All but
one of
the
opinion
polls
since
September
have put
Odinga,
a
62-year-old
businessman
and
former
political
prisoner,
a few
points
ahead of
Kibaki,
76.
Kibaki
has said
he will
step
down,
and
retire
to his
highland
farm, if
he
loses.
But
analysts
believe
those
around
him
might
not be
so
willing
to
relinquish
power.
