The New Nation - Internet Edition

Reuters, Nairobi

Kenyan voters went to the polls on Thursday to elect a new president and parliament with delays reported in some locations and charges from the main opposition candidate that the government was trying to rig the outcome. As dawn broke, thousands of people from the humid coast to the shantytowns and lush highlands turned out in force, forming long queues at polling stations guarded by armed police. The presidential contest -- which analysts say is too close to call -- pits 76-year-old President Mwai Kibaki against opposition challenger and former ally Raila Odinga, 62. Kibaki, whose National Rainbow Coalition unseated Kenya's 24-year ruling party in 2002, faces the possibility of losing his re-election bid despite a sound economic record and the backing of his Kikuyu tribe, the country's largest.