Kenyatta, Odinga campaign for votes ahead of tight race
A supporter of Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta in Nairobi [Baz Ratner/Reuters] |
Kenya's presidential candidates were attempting to win over voters on
Saturday, the final day of campaigning before Tuesday's elections.
President Uhuru Kenyatta again faces longtime opposition leader Raila
Odinga, the country's former prime minister, in a narrowly contested
vote which many fear could see violence.
Kenyatta is the son of Kenya's first president; Odinga is the son of the country's first vice president.
The country's 19.6 million eligible voters will also be selecting new MPs, governors, and senators.
Recent elections have been contested and more than 1,000 people were killed in post-election violence a decade ago.
Some in the East African nation have left the capital because of the
threat of chaos, while many plan to travel to their home regions
elsewhere in Kenya to vote.
Raila Odinga was Kenya's prime minister between 2008 and 2013 [Simon Maina/AFP] |
The torture and killing
in recent days of a key election official in charge of the electronic
voting system has some concerned about the possibility of vote
tampering.
Al Jazeera's Catherine Soi, reporting from an Kenyatta rally in
Nairobi, said the leading candidates were making last ditch pleas to
the electorate.
"[Kenyatta] is campaigning on a platform of economic development and infrastructure investment," she said.
"He
says that in the last four and half years his government has been able
to provide free maternal health to women, and tarmac hundreds of
kilometres of road."
Al Jazeera's Mohammed Adow, at an Odinga rally in Kenya's capital,
said there were fears in the crowd about how fair the upcoming vote
would be.
"The Odinga camp is very hopeful of victory but they're telling their
supporters they will not allow anything other than free and transparent
elections," he said.
"They want to put pressure on the institutions of government to ensure that the elections are credible," Adow added.
Meanwhile on Saturday, Kenya's main opposition party said an American
and a Canadian who were assisting its campaign were taken from their
homes on Friday and detained.
James Orengo, a senior member of the opposition National Super
Alliance, said the detentions took place at around the same time that
armed and masked police raided an opposition vote counting centre,
intimidating workers and seizing equipment.
A police official said immigration officials were holding the
American and the Canadian at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in
Nairobi, the AP news agency reported.
Source: Al Jazeea and news agencies
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