Jittery Kenyans vote in Odinga's last bid for presidency

Millions of people go to the polls in Kenya on Tuesday amid fears that the latest electoral clash between its foremost political dynasties could once again descend into violence. 


President Uhuru Kenyatta, 55, the businessman son of Kenya's first president, is running for the second time against arch rival Raila Odinga, a 72-year-old former political prisoner and son of the east African nation's first vice-president. 


After two months of campaigning marked by fiery rhetoric but public speeches largely free of the ethnic hate that has sullied previous contests, opinion polls have put the pair neck-and-neck. The winner needs one vote more than 50 percent.


First results are not expected before Wednesday, but a very close race might mean as long as three days before a winner emerges. Officially, election authorities have up to a week to declare the outcome. 


The razor-thin margins forecast have increased the chances of glitches - innocent or otherwise - giving grounds for the loser to complain about the result, as Odinga did in 2007 and 2013. 


A decade ago, vote tallying was abruptly stopped and the incumbent president declared the winner, triggering an outcry from Odinga's camp followed by outbreaks of ethnic violence in which 1,200 people were killed and 600,000 displaced. 


International Criminal Court cases against Kenyatta and his now-deputy, William Ruto, collapsed for lack of evidence. 


In 2013, electronic voting equipment suffered widespread failures, although Odinga's decision to limit his complaints to the courts prevented any unrest. 


This time - probably Odinga's last tilt at the top job in East Africa's biggest economy - the opposition has repeatedly accused the government of trying to rig the polls

Source: NNA