WEB DESK
Polling is underway for Presidential Election in Kenya. The contest is between 55 year old William Ruto, currently the country’s Vice President, and Raila Odinga, a 77-year-old political veteran bidding for the president’s post for the fifth time. Ruto claims to be the champion of the hustler nation. Both are claiming to transform the calcified, corruption-ridden political system of Kenya. The polling was preceded by intense campaign dominated by debates about living costs, unemployment and corruption.
Local media reported that in some locations, hundreds of voters lined up hours ahead of polls, which opened at
6.am
local time. More than 22 million Kenyans have registered to vote and they will be casting at least six ballots.
Rising food and fuel prices, huge government debt, high unemployment and widespread corruption mean economic issues are at the centre of an election in which unregulated campaign spending has already highlighted inequality.
President Uhuru Kenyatta is stepping down after reaching the constitutional limit of terms in the office. Ruto has been Kenyatta’s deputy for the past nine years, though the two have now fallen out, and the veteran opposition leader Odinga has Kenyatta’s endorsement.
The four opinion polls published last week put Odinga ahead with a margin of six to eight points, but Ruto has dismissed them as fake surveys designed to sway the electorate.