D-DAY as Kenyans go to the ballot in hotly contested race

Hundreds of thousands of voters stream to polling stations countrywide as the country heads to the second General Election under the 2010 Constitution.

Voters queued at the polling stations as early as 1 am, with at least 4,500,000 of the 19,611,423 registered voters casting their ballots for the first time in their lives.

The election, which is the first since the inception of the devolved system of governance, is seen by political pundits as the most contested in Kenya’s history with the incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta of Jubilee Party facing a fierce challenge from Opposition National Super Alliance’s (NASA) Raila Odinga.

Election materials have already been dispatched to the 40,883 polling stations across the country, with the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) officials among them Ezra Chiloba and Commissioner Roselyn Akombe expressing satisfaction with the polling preparations.

Eight candidates will battle it out in the presidential race, 1,892 candidates will be seeking to be elected as Members of Parliament, 11,857 candidates vying for Member of County Assembly, 211 gubernatorial candidates, 256 senatorial candidates and 299 seeking Woman representative positions.

In the capital Nairobi, voters continue to trickle into the polling stations.

Long queues continue to build up at Moi Avenue Primary School in Nairobi CBD, with similar situations at Kasarani, Ngumba Estate, Roysambu, Mahiga Primary School and Langata Primary.

Voters are reported to have arrived at polling stations as early as midnight in Kangemi and Murang’a, with those in Kisumu, Nakuru and Mombasa reporting hours before the polling.

Over 309,000 registered voters in Embu County started streaming into polling stations as early as 4 am ready to cast their votes.