Kenya's General Elections Started Smoothly

On Tuesday, millions of Kenyan citizens cast their ballots at about 46,229 polling stations across the country to elect their fifth president as well as members of the National Assembly, senators, and county governors.

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William Ruto, Kenya's sitting deputy president and a presidential candidate under the Kenya Kwanza (Kenya First) Alliance, cast his ballot at 6 a.m. local time at a primary school located in his ancestral Sugoi village in the northwestern county of Uasin Gishu.

Soon after casting his ballot, Ruto said he will respect the election outcomes, after months of heated campaigns. He is running for the presidency with three other candidates including his closest rival, Raila Odinga, a veteran opposition leader who is running for the presidency under the Azimio La Umoja (Resolution for Unity) One Kenya Coalition.

Odinga is expected to cast his ballot at a primary school in the Kibra slums, the largest informal settlement in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital later during the day. Other candidates for the presidency include George Wajackoya, a legal scholar who is running under the Roots Party and David Mwaure Waihiga, a seasoned political activist representing the Agano party.

On Tuesday morning, Slovakian MEP Ivan Stefanec, who heads the European Union's observation mission, said the Kenyan elections were proceeding smoothly and peacefully.

"After two hours of observing the polling stations we cannot reach conclusions... So far, however, we have observed a peaceful process," said Stefanec, who leads a team of more than 160 observers spread over 39 of the 47 counties of the country.

On Monday night, however, gunmen attacked the election results counting center in Wajir, a violence-hit county near the border with Somalia. The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) postponed the election in one of the constituencies in that county.