The main candidates for the Presidency of Kenya vote in a day without incident

The main candidates to succeed Uhuru Kenyatta on the Presidency of Kenya have cast their votes early Tuesday, in the early stages of an election day that runs without incident and in which Kenyans are also called to elect new national legislators and regional authorities.

former prime minister Raila Odinga, favorite in the polls, has gone to his polling station surrounded by thousands of people who, with songs and dances, demanded his definitive ascent to the head of State -it is his fifth attempt-. Odinga, 77, is confident that the “democratic change” that awaits Kenya after the departure of its current president derives from “free, fair and credible” elections, as he expressed this Tuesday in an interview prior to exercising his right to vote.

Odinga, who has made the fight against corruption his main campaign slogan, has as his main rival the vice president of Kenyatta, William Ruth, which he could face in a second round in the event that neither of them wins enough support from voters in Tuesday’s round.

mass participation

Ruto, who voted just minutes after polling stations opened at 6:00 am (local time), has promised to carry out economic reforms. At 55 years old, he is running without the explicit support of Kenyatta, with whom he managed to win two consecutive elections but from whom he has distanced himself in recent years.

The outgoing president has called the massive citizen participation after voting and has highlighted that the process is being “calm”, according to the newspaper ‘The Standard’. “I hope it stays like this all day in all the counties and that the peace stays,” he said.

Two other candidates are also contesting the elections, David Waihiga Mwaure and George Wajackoyah, although ‘a priori’ they have no chance of victory in what are the fifth presidential elections since Kenya proclaimed its independence from the United Kingdom in 1963.

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The counting of votes will begin when the polling stations close –starting with the presidential elections– and the Electoral Commission reserves a period of one week to announce the final results, which may be appealed to the Supreme Court.

To be declared the winner in the first round, a candidate needs a majority of votes nationally and at least 25 percent in half of Kenya’s 47 counties. Otherwise, there will be a final round within a maximum period of one month.