Kenya presidential campaign winds up with huge rallies

0 Comments | AFP, December, 2007

NAIROBI (AFP) — Kenya's closest fought presidential election campaign ever wound up Monday with huge rallies which saw the incumbent and his opposition challenger make a final push ahead of the December 27 polls.

Opposition leader Raila Odinga, who has consistently led President Mwai Kibaki in pre-vote polls, accused the government of planning to rig the ballot.

Police fired tear gas to break up scuffles between rival supporters in central Nairobi but the violence was quickly contained, quelling fears of major unrest ahead of a vote loaded with tribal rivalries and corruption accusations.

For the first time since the country acquired independence in 1963, Kenya's 14 million voters will head to the polling stations Thursday not knowing who their next...