Kenya Decides 2022
Caroline Ameh
Kenyan’s citizens have lined up, Tuesday to vote in the country’s second transition since the coming into force of a new constitutional order that will see President Uhuru Kenyatta hand over the baton to the nation’s fifth leader.
The incumbent president Uhuru Kenyatta assumed office in 2013 having taken over from President Mwai Kibaki who successfully midwifed a new constitution in 2010 that created a devolved system of government and elevated the position of Vice President to a Deputy President elected jointly with the president.
The presidential election, despite having the least number of presidential contenders since the re-introduction of multi-party politics, has been billed as a high-stakes poll with two top contenders — Kenya Kwanza’s William Ruto and Azimio’s Raila Odinga emerging as clear frontrunners.
Agano Party’s David Mwaure and Roots Party’s George Wajackoyah are also the two other candidates in the race.
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has designated 46,233 polling stations across the country with 21,102,532 voters spread across the electoral units zoned into streams with a maximum of 700 electors.
Despite isolated incidents of insecurity that saw nonstrategic electoral materials, including polling booths, destroyed in parts of the country, most polling stations across the country opened at 6am with millions of voters lining up to cast their ballots.
