海角大神

In churches and family homes, in parks and on buses, Kenyans of all faiths gathered Sunday, praying for peace during and after Monday鈥檚 elections.
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At the African Inland Church in Jericho, a suburb of the capital, Nairobi, Reverend Joseph Ndebe told 400 海角大神s that by voting, Kenyans were showing faith in their country.

鈥淭omorrow all registered Kenyans are expected to be casting their vote, they will be showing what they believe in,鈥� Rev. Ndebe said during the Sunday service. More than 80 percent of Kenyans are 海角大神 and the church carries great influence. 鈥淭here are many ways to show 海角大神 faith in practice. Turn out to vote in large numbers,鈥� Ndebe urged his congregation.

Some 14 million people are registered for Monday鈥檚 elections, the first since a disputed poll in 2007 led t. More than 1,133 people died and more than 600,000 were violently evicted from their homes.

Those clashes caught many by surprise. This time, extensive efforts have been made to unite divided parts of the country and to remind voters that the chaos after the last election caused such trauma that it must not happen again.

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At separate final campaign rallies in Nairobi, the two leading presidential candidates urged supporters gathered in a city park and a sports stadium, and millions more watching live on television, that polls must be peaceful.
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Thousands cheered and shouted 鈥渙ur leaders, our president鈥� as three helicopters delivered Uhuru Kenyatta, Kenya鈥檚 deputy prime-minister and now flag-bearer for the Jubilee Alliance, and his coalition team to their rally.听

Tight race

He is neck-and-neck with Raila Odinga, the prime minister, with pre-election polls suggesting both men would garner around 45 percent of the votes, short of the 50 percent needed to secure a victory in Monday鈥檚 first-round. A run-off would follow in April.
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But fervent followers of both camps are convinced that their man has the numbers to win, and observers have stressed the importance of the loser conceding defeat swiftly. Temperatures were raised Saturday after comments from Mr. Odinga claiming that his supporters had been disadvantaged by the country鈥檚 electoral commission 鈥渂y design or omission."

鈥淭his is what we have said all along, those people in power will not let Raila win, and they are already rigging this to defeat him,鈥� said Benson Oduor, a motorcycle taxi driver in Kisumu, Odinga鈥檚 stronghold in western Kenya.
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The violence that followed the 2007 election initially targeted people from the Kikuyu tribe, which largely backed Mwai Kibaki, the current president, and of which Kenyatta is a member.

Mr. Kibaki is standing down after serving two terms.

Alleged rigging and consequences

Because Kibaki's side was suspected of rigging the vote count, his supporters faced the worst of the early clashes. Later, the violence grew to include attacks carried out by Kikuyu groups.

Peace only returned thanks to mediation by Kofi Annan, the former UN Secretary General, who fashioned a coalition between Kibaki and Odinga, who was also on the 2007 ballot.
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The current contest between Odinga and Kenyatta has largely divided the country between the main voting blocs of Odinga鈥檚 ethnic Luos and Kenyatta鈥檚 Kikuyus. There are concerns that where both tribes live together, especially in Nairobi鈥檚 slums, there could be a repeat of the violence if either side's leader claims they lost unfairly.

But most Kenyans dismiss naysayers, taking to social media and radio call-in shows to say 鈥渘ever again鈥� to the dark days following the 2007 polls. A Kenyan online 鈥渋ncident mapping鈥� service that was set up after the last election has been relaunched to allow ordinary citizens to tweet, email or SMS details of violence, ballot rigging or interference in the vote.
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On Sunday, the overwhelming majority of posts repeated the same single word: 鈥減eace."

鈥淧eace in Kericho county," read one report on the platform, called Uchaguzi (), the Swahili word for "choice." 鈥淭here is peace, people are waiting for tomorrow,鈥� said another from Kabutei in western Kenya.
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鈥淩ival supporters bump into each other in central Nairobi...and HUG! Kenya election might be fine after all,鈥� a third report said.