Presidential Elections : Kenyans To Elect A New President Today

Twenty-two millions Kenyans are expected to the polls today, August 9, 2022 to elect the country’s fifth President to replace Uhuru Kenyatta. On the starting bloc are four candidates that include, William Ruto, Raila Odinga, George Wajackoyah and David Mwaure. Out of these number, opinion polls are predicting a tight race between veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga and serving Deputy President William Ruto. With the incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta, constitutionally barred from seeking a third five-year term, the doors into the State House are wide open for any of the candidates to move in hitch-free through the ballot box. For the past decades, Kenyatta’s Kikuyu ethnic group, the nation’s most populous, has produced three of four presidents since independence from Britain in 1963, but does not have a presidential candidate this time. Recognising the importance of ethnic voting blocs, both frontrunners have picked a Kikuyu vice president. 
William Ruto heads the Kenya Kwanza (Kenya First) Alliance and served as a lawmaker and minister for agriculture before becoming deputy president. In the 2007 election, Ruto sided with Odinga and lost. In 2013 and 2017, he teamed up with Kenyatta to defeat Raila Odinga. During his campaign, the 55-year-old eloquent orator who portrays himself as a former roadside chicken seller representing working-class “hustlers” against wealthy political “dynasties”, has pledged to boost spending for small farmers and private businesses, and reform national health insurance and social security funds. His major rival Raila Odinga who is running for president under the Azimio La Umoja (Declaration of Unity) Alliance, which includ...