Kenya Election Day

Long Voting Line on Election Day in Kenya

Blaring sounds of blow horns awoke us at 4am to rouse Kenyans from sleep and get them out to vote. All businesses were closed as this is considered a National Holiday. Poling stations open at 6am and it was not uncommon to hear people queue up at 1am. They use a biometric voter registration system which identifies registered voters through fingerprints and facial recognition technology. The candidate has to win by 50%+1 vote and 25% in the majority of Kenya's counties.

There are 8 candidates running for president, one women among them. The election is suspected to come down between 2 men. Raila Odinga is a 68 year old man, currently a MP (Member of Parliament) of Kibera. Kibera is the largest slum in sub-Saharan Africa home to 1.2 million Nairobi residents. He is of the CORD (Coalition for Reform and Democracy) party and son of the 1st VP. Uhuru Kenyatta is a 51 year old man, currently a DPM ( consistent with new vision and mission of the Kenyan government development goals) of the Jubilee party and son of Kenya's founding President.

Since we arrived in Kenya there has been tension and excitement in the air about this election because of what happened 5 years ago. In 2007 about 1200 people died and 600,000 were displaced because of inter-ethnic (tribal) violence due to the election results. Because of this disastrous election a new constitution has come into force which has divided Kenya into 47 new counties. Each county will have its own governor and parliament which will decide how its budget is spent. There is an enormous movement to make this election peaceful and successful. This election will either send Kenya off track and derail its progression or elegantly emerge it into a dynamic new era, a transformation that would make it one of the most democratic countries in the world.

It has been very exciting being here during this historic election. There is a lot of pride that goes into the voting process. I am told it could take up to a week to announce a winner. We had a fun day staying at the orphanage with the kids as they were ALL here as there was no school.