Kenyans head to the polls amid tightened security

By Andrew Wasike and Magdalene Mukami

NAIROBI, Kenya

Millions of Kenyans on Tuesday turned up to vote in the 2017 general elections in a bid to elect a new government that will serve the country for the next five years.

Voters cut sleep short and began to line up as early as 12 a.m. EAT (2100GMT on Monday) to vote in what many are terming as game-changing elections as incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta, a businessman and son of Kenya's founding father Jomo Kenyatta faces off with Raila Amollo Odinga who has tried to become president four times in the past but has never emerged victorious.

Presidential votes in Kenya on Tuesday started to trickle in after the country’s electoral body -- the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission -- officially closed all polling stations and started counting the ballots.

Preliminary results show Kenyatta leading with 904,477 votes against Odinga who has 656,293 votes out of the 20 million registered voters.

The electioneering process faced a couple of hiccups after two people were caught bribing voters at a polling station in Kitui Kenya and were later beaten to a pulp by angry voters; they were later rescued by police officers who arrested them.

Several other people were arrested across the east Africa country for similar reasons.

In West Pokot Kenya, a lady gave birth at a polling station after queuing for hours; in Kakamega county in western Kenya a man collapsed and died while waiting to vote.

Tuesday was also the first time that Kenyan prisoners took part in voting in the elections.

Over 150,000 police officers were deployed to provide security to election officials and to ensure everything runs smoothly across around 41,000 polling stations in the country.

Earlier, Anadolu Agency spoke with some people who were queuing at Moi Avenue Primary School in Nairobi.

"I came here at one in the morning even though the voting starts at six. I love my country and that is why I sacrificed to be here in the cold so that I can just vote and leave for work. I am a driver so even though it's a holiday, that doesn’t apply to me," Dennis Kamau said.

With her baby shielded under folds of blankets, Miriam Njeri said she prayed for peace so that the country did not descend into post-election violence like it did back in 2007, when more than 1,300 people were killed and over 630,000 others displaced.

"I just came from casting my vote and I want to go home early and wait for the results. We are praying. I am praying for peace," she said.

Those who have voted are having their fingers inked to distinguish them from those who are yet to vote. The electoral body is also inking the fingers of infants to avoid the "loaning" of children with an aim to bypass the long queues.

Kenyans voted to elect the president, members of the senate, county governors, county women representatives, members of county assemblies and members of parliament in 40,883 polling stations across the country.

The results are expected to be announced by Wednesday morning, although the IEBC said there could be some delays because 11,000 polling stations out of the 40,883 lack 3G or 4G network connectivity.

In the previous polls, opposition leader Odinga had claimed that 2 million votes were used to rig the election.