Kenya's main opposition candidate Tuesday said he was confident of victory in closely-fought presidential elections this week, as final opinion polls gave him a slight edge over incumbent Mwai Kibaki.
Raila Odinga, a flamboyant 62-year-old former political prisoner, said he was confident of a "vote for change" in Thursday's ballot in which 76-year-old Kibaki is seeking a second and final presidential term. "We have done all that was humanly possible in these campaigns given the constraints that were there," Odinga told reporters after attending Christmas mass in the capital Nairobi.
"The people now have to speak and I am sure they will speak loudly enough on Thursday. Therefore I have a lot of confidence that the people of this country will vote for change." Kibaki, who attended a Roman Catholic mass in the capital, walked away without speaking to reporters, but Cardinal John Njue told "all registered voters to vote wisely for leaders who will serve them for the next five years."
Opinion pollsters indicate Odinga's charisma has gained him support beyond his tribal constituency. But he has joined seven political parties in 15 years, leading to charges of being a populist and an opportunist.
Kenya is poised for its tightest race ever, even though policy differences between the two are imperceptible. The east African country has averaged annual growth of five percent since the 2002 polls and Kibaki has campaigned for continuity, boasting his economic achievements and measures such as free primary education.
He is however criticised for failing to tackle corruption and push reforms, notably a new constitution that would diminish the president's powers and create the position of prime minister.
The poll's third man is Orange Democratic Movement-Kenya's (ODM-K) Kalonzo Musyoka, a 53-year-old born-again Christian who hopes to be the kingmaker mainly by relying on the parliamentary numbers. "I call on Kenyans to vote peacefully and I warn the government and President Kibaki in particular not to attempt to rig the elections. People know that this government is unpopular and they are going to vote it out," he said. Escalating tribal rhetoric has prompted fears of communal unrest in Kenya, which has been more stable than its neighbours since its 1963 independence from Britain although it has a history of electoral violence.
Kenya's leading rights group claims that at least 70 people have died in poll-related violence since the campaign started, but few incidents have been reported in recent days and candidates have appealed for calm.
Police said they had beefed up security in 27,000 polling stations across the country that will be manned by around 15,000 electoral observers. "Comprehensive security arrangements are now in place, but we are asking the public to be very familiar with the laws, particularly respecting the electoral law," national security spokesman Eric Kiraithe told AFP.
The mass-circulation Daily Nation newspaper said in a Christmas editorial that the country had been polarised "than ever before and a great deal of ugliness, innuendo, propaganda, lies and even unspeakable filth have become staple diet."
The Standard newspaper called for a probe into allegations of poll fraud, repeatedly sounded by the main opposition parties, but flatly rejected by the government. "Vote-cheating is such a serious matter that claims that there are plans to rig Thursday's general elections must be investigated swiftly and exhaustively and the findings made public immediately," the Standard wrote. In the same ballot, Kenyans will elect 210 members of parliament and more than 2,000 local councillors, with some observers predicting that increasingly demanding voters could vote out up to 70 percent of sitting MPs.