Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Inside a Nairobi polling station with the BBC's Anne Soy

Kenya's incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta has taken a strong lead as votes are counted after Tuesday's election.

With 80% of results in he has 55% of the vote against 44% for his rival, Raila Odinga, figures show.

However, the opposition coalition has rejected the partial results, saying election officials have not produced documents to prove their validity.

"They are fictitious, they are fake," said Mr Odinga.

"We have our projections from our agents which show we are ahead by far," he added.

The electoral commission is urging people to wait calmly for full results.

Many fear a repeat of the violence that followed the disputed 2007 election when more than 1,100 Kenyans died and 600,000 were displaced.

"During this critical phase, we urge all Kenyans to exercise restraint as we await official results from the polling stations and indeed as they start trickling in," the commission said.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption People began queuing early in the morning and even overnight to cast their votes

Voting passed off largely peacefully and some polling stations remained open after the scheduled 17:00 (14:00 GMT) closing time.

Mr Kenyatta is hoping for a second term in office.

To win outright, a candidate needs more than 50% of the vote, and at least 25% in 24 of Kenya's 47 counties. If that threshold is not met, a run-off vote between the top two candidates will be triggered.

Voting for the national and local assemblies has also been taking place.

Scenes from the polling station

People started queuing early to ensure they could cast their vote. Long queues could be seen, and video footage at one polling station showed people injured after an apparent stampede.

There was also the failure of some voter-identification equipment and one in four polling stations were apparently without mobile phone coverage meaning that officials would have to drive to the nearest town to send results.

There were reports that one man had been killed in clashes in the Kilifi area.

But there was one heartening moment when a woman gave birth to a baby girl as she queued in West Pokot to cast her ballot. New mother Pauline Chemanang called the circumstances of the birth a "blessing" and called her baby Kura, Swahili for "ballot", according to local radio.

Image copyright EPA Image caption Election officials will be busy through the night counting the votes

Image copyright AFP Image caption Mr Kenyatta called on Kenyans to pull the country together

Image copyright EPA Image caption Mr Odinga has raised fears of vote-rigging

Casting his vote in his hometown of Gatundu, north of Nairobi, Mr Kenyatta said he would accept the outcome of the election.

"To my competitors, as I have always said, in the event that they lose, let us accept the will of the people. I am willing, myself, to accept the will of the people," he said.

Opposition leader Mr Odinga cast his ballot in the Nairobi slum of Kibera.

Speaking outside the voting centre, he told his supporters: "Let's turn out in large numbers and vote."

Testing time ahead

By Alastair Leithead, BBC News, Mathare

The queues were long and the voters impatient. Many arrived in the middle of the night to cast their ballots early and the electronic system is taking quite a while to verify voters.

If fingerprints don't register, ID card numbers have to be typed in to the electronic tablets and then there's a manual backup.

The responsibility lies with the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission to deliver a free and fair election.

The test will come when the polls close, the votes are counted and the results have to be transmitted to the tallying centres.

The presidential race is expected to be close.

Mr Odinga, 72, has run for president three times and lost each time. President Kenyatta, the 55-year-old son of Kenya's founding president, beat him in the last election in 2013, but their rivalry is generations old - their fathers were political opponents in the 1960s.

Mr Kenyatta and his running-mate William Ruto were indicted by the International Criminal Court for their alleged roles in the bloodshed a decade ago. The case ultimately collapsed due to lack of evidence, and after key witnesses died or disappeared.

Kenya's election in numbers:

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Kenya elections 2017: "Six-piece" vote explained

Six separate ballot papers : For president, national assembly, female representatives, governors, senate and county assemblies

: For president, national assembly, female representatives, governors, senate and county assemblies 47 parliamentary seats and 16 senate seats reserved for women

and 16 senate seats reserved for women Eight presidential candidates : President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga are favourites

: President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga are favourites Kenyatta beat Odinga in 2013 - their fathers were also political rivals in the 1960s

A candidate needs 50% plus one vote for first-round victory

vote for first-round victory More than 14,000 candidates running across the six elections

running across the six elections More than 45% of registered voters under 35

Some 180,000 security officers on duty nationwide in case of trouble

Decoding the poll

Vote strains mixed ethnicity marriages

What first-time voters make of it all

View of those behind 2007 poll violence

Chief EU observer Marietje Schaake said much would depend on the faith people hold in the new electronic voting system.

Before election day, a top election official was murdered, there were claims of vote-rigging and hate speech flyers and rhetorical text messages began circulating.

Some nervous Kenyans stockpiled food and water, while police prepared emergency first aid kits in the event of violence.</s>A decade ago, the political spotlight shone on Kenya for all the wrong reasons. The fabric of the country strained under historic divisions as the mosaic of communities that makes up Kenya clashed in a way that must never be repeated.

When I came to power in 2013, my goal was to unify Kenya. Last year I proudly led 12 parties into the unified Jubilee Party, bringing together people from different tribes into a progressive political force. Today, men and women from across Kenya sit in my cabinet under the motto Tuko Pamoja, which in Swahili means "we are together".

As Kenyans head to the polls today, I want Kenya to be an exemplar in modern African politics. By campaigning on policy platforms and holding leaders accountable to the pledges they make, we have shown that Kenyan democracy is coming of age.</s>The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has denied reports that it is meddling in the impending presidential elections in Kenya.

Reports of the NPP’s alleged involvement was captured in some media outlets in Kenya following the deportation of the party’s Campaign Manager of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for the just ended 2016 Presidential and Parliamentary elections, Peter Mac Manu over the weekend.

Mac Manu was said to be leading a team of Democratic Union of Africa (DUA) International Observers to Kenya’s General Elections to be held on August 8, 2017.

Agents of Kenya’s ruling party alleged the NPP was supporting the opposition leader Raila Odinga to create a parallel election tally result platform, just like it did in the December elections in Ghana.

But the Deputy General Secretary of the NPP, Nana Obiri Boahene said those allegations are false.

In an interview with Citi News, he said Mac Manu’s presence in the East African country had no influence on the upcoming polls.

“They said they will not allow Peter Mac Manu to go there and it is a serious indication that things are not going on well. How do you accuse the NPP in Ghana that they want to rig the elections? This primitive way of handling matters ongoing in Kenya, we need to be serious about it.”

Meanwhile, former President, John Dramani Mahama is leading a 15-member Commonwealth Observer Group to monitor and report on the August 08, 2017 election.

Incumbent President, Uhuru Kenyatta, who beat Raila Odinga in the previous election to become president, is facing a stiff competition from Odinga again to retain power.</s>Kenya’s general elections are to be held today, August 8th, and candidates have been traversing the country wooing voters to support them. Since the youth form a big part of the population in the country, all candidates are campaigning hard to win their votes. Youth between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five make up 51% of the total 19.6 million registered voters.

This group also comprises newly registered voters, who will cast their vote for the first time during this election. Many have shown eagerness to cast their votes on Tuesday, and we even spoke to a few of them in Nairobi:

According to 18-year-old John Barasa, this election is significant in the history of Kenya, and he is thrilled to be among those who cast their votes on Tuesday. John says that his excitement is not only because he finally has a chance to determine who leads the country, but because he will be exercising his democratic right. “I am happy because for the first time, I will be able to help determine leaders for the various elective posts,” says John. He adds that he also plans to be among the first Kenyans to cast their votes. “I will wake up by 5am to leave for the polling station, so that once the station is opened at 6am, I am among the first people to cast their vote,” he states.</s>NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The Latest on Kenya’s elections (all times local):

Kenya’s electoral board, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, says that the polls have closed after voters turned out in large numbers in Kenya’s hotly contested elections. The electoral board’s statement said that all voters who are already in line will be permitted to vote. The announcement said voting will be extended in the Baringo and Turkana areas because polls opened late because of heavy rains. It said voting will also be extended in centers that started late or had technical difficulties.

Tonkei Ole Sipala isn’t sure how old he is, but he thinks he’s about 75. The Kenyan is a respected elder of his Maasai community, but he still had to walk several kilometers (miles) in a remote part of Kajiado County to cast his vote in the national election.

“I just want all people voting, to vote peacefully and go home. When the results come out we will support the person who will win,” says Ole Sipala, who remembered voting for the first time in the early 1960s as Kenya secured independence from British colonial rule.

Tokoyian Ole Siamon, a mother of six who was decked out in traditional beads while waiting to vote, said she doesn’t want any fighting if Kenya’s vote is disputed.

The Maasais are mostly pastoralists, relying on cows for their livelihood. Climate change and severe droughts along with rapid population growth have made life more difficult for the Maasais in recent years.

In Kenya’s Kisumu city, voters have different views about the possibility of violence if there is a dispute over the results of the presidential election.

“If the elections are not fair, if there was rigging, people will definitely go to the streets,” said Sophia Ajwang, a 29-year-old student.

However, Moses Otieno, a 33-year-old businessman, predicted that Kenyans don’t want to see the kind of deadly, ethnic-based violence that erupted after the 2007 vote.

“We’ve learned a lot in the past, so we don’t want such repetition in this election,” Otieno said. “That’s why we will accept whatever outcome it is.”

Former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who is observing Kenya’s elections, is calling for patience and says eventual vote-counting will be critical to the success of the process.

“There are a lot of people in line, and it is going to take some time, and we are going to need to be very patient,” said Kerry, chief election observer for The Carter Center. “But obviously, the transition from voting to counting is going to be critical and there is a process in place for that too. That’s why it is too early for us to be drawing any kinds of conclusions, but we will see where it goes.”

Kerry said that his team will be talking to election officials and other observers and that “over the course of the next day and a half, two days, solid judgments will begin to be made.”

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has voted in his birthplace of Gatundu, north of Nairobi.

Kenyans on Tuesday started voting in a fiercely contested election that pits Kenyatta against challenger Raila Odinga. This East Africa economic hub is known known for its relative, long-term stability as well as vying ethnic allegiances that shadow its democracy.

“I feel good. I feel positive because we ran a positive campaign,” Kenyatta said after casting his vote. He urged Kenyans to vote peacefully and go home to await the results. He was accompanied by his wife, Margaret, his mother and two of his three children.

“Peace. Peace. Peace,” said Kenyatta, who seeks a second and final term in office. “I say peace because Kenya was here before and it will be here after today.”

Raila Odinga, the main opposition challenger in Kenya’s tightly-contested election, has voted.

Odinga, 72, voted in the poor area of Kibera, an opposition stronghold in the capital, Nairobi, and was surrounded by well-wishers. He urged supporters to gather on Wednesday in a downtown park for what he predicted would be a celebration.

“Uhuru must go,” chanted some in the crowd, referring to President Uhuru Kenyatta, who seeks a second term in office.

A Kenyan legislator who supports Raila Odinga, the main opposition leader running for president, says he is worried about some flaws in the voting process in Kenya’s hotly contested elections.

Kenyan are voting Tuesday in the elections pitting Odinga against President Uhuru Kenyatta.

“We hope the counting process will be as good as the voting and the results will reflect the true winner,” said Ken Okoth, legislator for the Kibera constituency in Nairobi.

“There is concern over voter registration where people who corrected mistakes of their details cannot find their names on the list. I estimate between 500 and 1,000 people are affected by this,” he said.

Okoth called for vigilance, saying it brings credibility to the elections.

An international election observer says Kenyans are voting with enthusiasm and that the process is going well.

John Mahama, chief election observer for the Commonwealth and former president of Ghana, said early Tuesday that he is impressed by the voter turnout.

“There have been no incidents so far,” Mahama said. “Voting seems to be going smoothly and I think it is a good sign for Kenyan democracy.”

Kenya has 20 million registered voters out of a population of more than 40 million people. They are voting in a fiercely contested election that pits President Uhuru Kenyatta against challenger Raila Odinga.

A 102-year-old woman believed to be one of Kenya’s oldest citizens said she has voted for incumbent president Uhuru Kenyatta.

“I have come here to vote because good leadership comes from God. I want to vote because I believe God has kept me alive for so many years,” said Gathoni.

Kenyans on Tuesday started voting in an election that pits Kenyatta against challenger Raila Odinga in this East African economic hub known for its relative, long-term stability as well as the ethnic allegiances that shadow its democracy.

Election officials say the winner of Kenya’s presidential race must get more than 50 percent of the votes as well as one-quarter or more votes in at least 24 of Kenya’s 47 counties. If the front-runner falls short of those benchmarks, the two top contenders will contest a run-off vote.

President Uhuru Kenyatta and challenger Raila Odinga also faced off in the 2013 election. Kenyatta won by a thin margin, with just over 50 percent of the vote; Odinga alleged vote-tampering and took his case to Kenya’s highest court, which ruled in Kenyatta’s favor by validating the results.

Like many Kenyan voters, 34-year-old Fred Nyakundi arrived at a polling station several hours before it opened and waited in line in the dark before casting his vote.

“The exercise is very slow, but I am happy with the service I got,” said Nyakundi, who owns a carpentry business in Nairobi. “I am going home to open the business and wait for results.”

Another voter, 41-year-old Fatuma Ramadhan, thought the voting procedure was speedy. She was able to vote at 6 a.m., when polling stations opened, and then opened her restaurant to serve breakfast to other voters.

Early voters went to the polls across the country at sunrise. Election officials say the polls will close at 5 p.m. local time (10 a.m. Eastern Time, 14:00GMT) Vote counting will start immediately and results are expected within 24 to 48 hours, although authorities have up to a week to deliver official, final results.

Kenyans are voting in an election that pits President Uhuru Kenyatta against challenger Raila Odinga in an East African economic hub known as much for its relative, long-term stability as the ethnic allegiances that shadow its democracy.

A key concern after polls opened Tuesday was whether Kenya would echo its 2013 election, a mostly peaceful affair despite opposition allegations of vote-tampering, or the 2007 election, which led to violence fueled by ethnic divisions that killed more than 1,000 people.

Reaction to the result could partly depend on the performance of Kenya’s electoral commission, which will collect vote counts from more than 40,000 polling stations. Kenya has nearly 20 million registered voters.

Former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is among thousands of observers who are monitoring the election.

AP writers Chris Torchia and Tom Odula in Nairobi, Kenya contributed to this series.

Copyright © 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.</s>Kisumu (Kenya) (AFP) - After voting early Tuesday, Richard Ojijo, a 34-year-old fisherman, mounted his motorbike and drove a pair of elderly women to a polling centre so they, too, could cast their ballot.

"I want them to exercise their democratic right," Ojijo said of his impromptu election-day taxi service in Kenya's western city of Kisumu. "We want this thing to be successful."

Turnout is crucial in Tuesday's election, where the race between President Uhuru Kenyatta and his main challenger, Raila Odinga, is too close to call, and will likely come down to which side gets more voters out.

Both candidates have their strongholds: sultry, laid-back Kisumu is home to Odinga's Luo ethnic group who are sure to vote him into power, while Kenyatta can depend on fellow members of the Kikuyu people living in central Kenya to back him.

But with both candidates hoping to gain over 50 percent of the vote to squeak a first-round victory, some, like Ojijo, are leaving nothing to chance, and have made getting people to vote a personal quest.

Polls opened at 6am but for the two hours beforehand, the sound of honking vuvuzelas, shrill whistles and motorcycle horns cut through the quiet streets as exuberant young men sought to ring the voters out.

"This is to tell people to come and vote!" said George Otieno, grinning as he blew an ear-shattering honk from his plastic horn.

The rangy 25-year-old was among thousands gathered at the city's sports grounds before dawn, where the atmosphere was more party than election: some had stayed awake all night waiting for polls to open, and were lubricating their wakefulness with booze.

One word, offered as both a demand and a prayer, was on the tips of the tongues of many of the thousands gathered at the field: "Change".

"We need change," said Otieno, a secondhand shoe salesman. "The cost of living is very high and the standard is very low. The government is just keeping money in its pocket and there is nothing for us."

The allegation of corruption is a perennial one in Kenyan politics, which for generations has been organised along ethnic lines with elected leaders expected to funnel state cash in the direction of their communities.

John Odundu, 40 and walking with a crutch, turned up to vote with his six-year-old daughter, Immaculate, dressed in a hot pink parka.

"She's a very strong supporter of Raila, she says she's coming to vote for him!' he joked.

Odundu is a Luo and had just voted for Odinga, yet he complained of the "tribalism" of Kenyatta's government, and insisted the opposition leader won his support through policies to help the poor, not ethnicity.

"If anybody could have come with his kind of policy, even if he was Kikuyu, we could still vote him," he said.

Ronald Ngala, a 42-year-old real estate manager with a t-shirt reading "Kenya Forever" beneath his suit jacket, was itching to vote, and then to help others do the same.

After casting his ballots, Ngala hopped into his Toyota and headed for a nearby hospital, where he planned to collect ailing patients and take them to their polling stations.

Voting, he said, is "my passion".

The determination to vote -- and win -- has left many concerned that neither Kenyatta nor Odinga will be willing to accept defeat.

That's a dangerous prospect in a country where elections are frequently disputed and accompanied by bouts of deadly violence, and where martial language has become something of a lingua franca.

"When you are going into battle -- like me going to battle for Raila Odinga today -- we are sure we are going to win," said Ojijo. "It's not a question of why you will not win. We are sure we will win."

And with that, he prepared to set out again on his motorbike to find others who have not yet voted and ferry them to a polling centre.</s>NAIROBI, Kenya – Preliminary results show Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta ahead with 55.4 percent of the vote in Tuesday’s election while challenger Raila Odinga has 43.9 percent.

Votes from nearly one-quarter of 40,883 polling stations have been counted, according to Kenya’s election commission.

By law, election officials have up to a week to announce results. Many analysts believe the outcome of the presidential race will be declared far sooner, possibly within one or two days.

Both police and the election commission say the vote was largely calm.

Vote-counting has begun following Kenya’s election, which pits President Uhuru Kenyatta against opposition leader Raila Odinga and features contests for more than 1,800 other elected positions down to the county level.

On Tuesday evening, votes from nearly 5 percent of the more than 40,000 polling stations had been counted in the presidential race. The results were too few to indicate a clear trend.

Kenya has nearly 20 million registered voters out of a population of more than 40 million.

Officials say residents of Kenya’s coastal Lamu County came out to vote in large numbers despite the threat of an Islamic extremist attack which delayed the start of the voting process.

The Somalia-based rebel group, al-Shabab, has been operating in the dense Boni Forest in Lamu despite months of operations by the military and police to flush them out. The insurgents had urged Lamu residents not to vote and threatened to disrupt the elections, increasing attacks ahead of Tuesday’s vote. The group is blamed for bombing an electricity pylon that caused a day-long blackout the day before the election.

“We will not give al-Shabab the satisfaction by not voting,” said Jane Sambay, who was at her polling station by 7 a.m. Voting was delayed by two hours and started at 8 a.m.

Kenya’s security forces took special measures to provide security to voters. The military provided escorts from voters’ homes to the polling stations and back in the Pandanguo area, where al-Shabab recently beheaded nine people.

Al-Shabab has carried out more than 100 attacks in Kenya saying they are revenge for Kenya sending troops to Somalia to fight the militants in 2011.

A high-ranking member of Kenya’s main opposition says the coalition is largely impressed by the work of the electoral commission officers during voting in the country’s hotly contested general elections.

Former Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi, a leader of the National Super Alliance, largely commended the professionalism of the security agencies during voting Tuesday although he criticized a few who he said were openly campaigning for the ruling Jubilee Party.

Mudavadi said the opposition is concerned that some of their agents were not allowed into polling centers to scrutinize voting but said the electoral commission cooperated to try to resolve the issue.

He said the opposition is also concerned about names of voters missing on the register, saying that too many opposition voters were disenfranchised. He said voter bribery was noted in some polling stations and urged authorities to take action.

Kenya’s election commission says three polling stations in the Laikipia area were “affected by insecurity” during Tuesday’s national vote.

The commission has not provided details on the unrest in the northern part of Laikipia County, but says security forces restored order and polling resumed.

For more than a year now, farms and homes in Laikipia have been under siege from semi-nomadic herders who say a widespread drought is making them desperate to find grazing land for their animals. Some farmers believe the land invasions were incited by politicians who wanted to displace thousands of farmers, both black and white, as part of a plan to change voter demographics and help win local elections.

Kenya’s electoral board, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, says that the polls have closed after voters turned out in large numbers in Kenya’s hotly contested elections. The electoral board’s statement said that all voters who are already in line will be permitted to vote. The announcement said voting will be extended in the Baringo and Turkana areas because polls opened late because of heavy rains. It said voting will also be extended in centers that started late or had technical difficulties.

Tonkei Ole Sipala isn’t sure how old he is, but he thinks he’s about 75. The Kenyan is a respected elder of his Maasai community, but he still had to walk several kilometers (miles) in a remote part of Kajiado County to cast his vote in the national election.

“I just want all people voting, to vote peacefully and go home. When the results come out we will support the person who will win,” says Ole Sipala, who remembered voting for the first time in the early 1960s as Kenya secured independence from British colonial rule.

Tokoyian Ole Siamon, a mother of six who was decked out in traditional beads while waiting to vote, said she doesn’t want any fighting if Kenya’s vote is disputed.

The Maasais are mostly pastoralists, relying on cows for their livelihood. Climate change and severe droughts along with rapid population growth have made life more difficult for the Maasais in recent years.

In Kenya’s Kisumu city, voters have different views about the possibility of violence if there is a dispute over the results of the presidential election.

“If the elections are not fair, if there was rigging, people will definitely go to the streets,” said Sophia Ajwang, a 29-year-old student.

However, Moses Otieno, a 33-year-old businessman, predicted that Kenyans don’t want to see the kind of deadly, ethnic-based violence that erupted after the 2007 vote.

“We’ve learned a lot in the past, so we don’t want such repetition in this election,” Otieno said. “That’s why we will accept whatever outcome it is.”

Former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who is observing Kenya’s elections, is calling for patience and says eventual vote-counting will be critical to the success of the process.

“There are a lot of people in line, and it is going to take some time, and we are going to need to be very patient,” said Kerry, chief election observer for The Carter Center. “But obviously, the transition from voting to counting is going to be critical and there is a process in place for that too. That’s why it is too early for us to be drawing any kinds of conclusions, but we will see where it goes.”

Kerry said that his team will be talking to election officials and other observers and that “over the course of the next day and a half, two days, solid judgments will begin to be made.”

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has voted in his birthplace of Gatundu, north of Nairobi.

Kenyans on Tuesday started voting in a fiercely contested election that pits Kenyatta against challenger Raila Odinga. This East Africa economic hub is known known for its relative, long-term stability as well as vying ethnic allegiances that shadow its democracy.

“I feel good. I feel positive because we ran a positive campaign,” Kenyatta said after casting his vote. He urged Kenyans to vote peacefully and go home to await the results. He was accompanied by his wife, Margaret, his mother and two of his three children.

“Peace. Peace. Peace,” said Kenyatta, who seeks a second and final term in office. “I say peace because Kenya was here before and it will be here after today.”

Raila Odinga, the main opposition challenger in Kenya’s tightly-contested election, has voted.

Odinga, 72, voted in the poor area of Kibera, an opposition stronghold in the capital, Nairobi, and was surrounded by well-wishers. He urged supporters to gather on Wednesday in a downtown park for what he predicted would be a celebration.

“Uhuru must go,” chanted some in the crowd, referring to President Uhuru Kenyatta, who seeks a second term in office.

A Kenyan legislator who supports Raila Odinga, the main opposition leader running for president, says he is worried about some flaws in the voting process in Kenya’s hotly contested elections.

Kenyan are voting Tuesday in the elections pitting Odinga against President Uhuru Kenyatta.

“We hope the counting process will be as good as the voting and the results will reflect the true winner,” said Ken Okoth, legislator for the Kibera constituency in Nairobi.

“There is concern over voter registration where people who corrected mistakes of their details cannot find their names on the list. I estimate between 500 and 1,000 people are affected by this,” he said.

Okoth called for vigilance, saying it brings credibility to the elections.

An international election observer says Kenyans are voting with enthusiasm and that the process is going well.

John Mahama, chief election observer for the Commonwealth and former president of Ghana, said early Tuesday that he is impressed by the voter turnout.

“There have been no incidents so far,” Mahama said. “Voting seems to be going smoothly and I think it is a good sign for Kenyan democracy.”

Kenya has 20 million registered voters out of a population of more than 40 million people. They are voting in a fiercely contested election that pits President Uhuru Kenyatta against challenger Raila Odinga.

A 102-year-old woman believed to be one of Kenya’s oldest citizens said she has voted for incumbent president Uhuru Kenyatta.

“I have come here to vote because good leadership comes from God. I want to vote because I believe God has kept me alive for so many years,” said Gathoni.

Kenyans on Tuesday started voting in an election that pits Kenyatta against challenger Raila Odinga in this East African economic hub known for its relative, long-term stability as well as the ethnic allegiances that shadow its democracy.

Election officials say the winner of Kenya’s presidential race must get more than 50 percent of the votes as well as one-quarter or more votes in at least 24 of Kenya’s 47 counties. If the front-runner falls short of those benchmarks, the two top contenders will contest a run-off vote.

President Uhuru Kenyatta and challenger Raila Odinga also faced off in the 2013 election. Kenyatta won by a thin margin, with just over 50 percent of the vote; Odinga alleged vote-tampering and took his case to Kenya’s highest court, which ruled in Kenyatta’s favor by validating the results.

Like many Kenyan voters, 34-year-old Fred Nyakundi arrived at a polling station several hours before it opened and waited in line in the dark before casting his vote.

“The exercise is very slow, but I am happy with the service I got,” said Nyakundi, who owns a carpentry business in Nairobi. “I am going home to open the business and wait for results.”

Another voter, 41-year-old Fatuma Ramadhan, thought the voting procedure was speedy. She was able to vote at 6 a.m., when polling stations opened, and then opened her restaurant to serve breakfast to other voters.

Early voters went to the polls across the country at sunrise. Election officials say the polls will close at 5 p.m. local time (10 a.m. Eastern Time, 14:00GMT) Vote counting will start immediately and results are expected within 24 to 48 hours, although authorities have up to a week to deliver official, final results.

Kenyans are voting in an election that pits President Uhuru Kenyatta against challenger Raila Odinga in an East African economic hub known as much for its relative, long-term stability as the ethnic allegiances that shadow its democracy.

A key concern after polls opened Tuesday was whether Kenya would echo its 2013 election, a mostly peaceful affair despite opposition allegations of vote-tampering, or the 2007 election, which led to violence fueled by ethnic divisions that killed more than 1,000 people.

Reaction to the result could partly depend on the performance of Kenya’s electoral commission, which will collect vote counts from more than 40,000 polling stations. Kenya has nearly 20 million registered voters.

Former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is among thousands of observers who are monitoring the election.

AP writers Chris Torchia and Tom Odula in Nairobi, Kenya contributed to this series.</s>In the battle for Kenya’s presidency, the bloc of voters most neglected by the race’s two main candidates may be the one that matters most. Ahead of the Aug 8 general election, president Uhuru Kenyatta, 55, and opposition leader Raila Odinga, 72, have focused on winning over young people, voters in swing counties, and discontented tribes whose loyalties are changeable.

Yet, Kenya’s 9.4 million female voters, 47% of registered voters, have been an afterthought in an election that hinges on turnout and undecided voters. In Kenya’s last election, also a contest between Kenyatta and Odinga, Kenyatta won with less than 8,000 votes. There’s reason to believe this presidential race may be even closer. According to the most recent polls, Kenyatta and Odinga are as little as one percentage point apart.

The presidential race has been described as a young person’s election, voters between the ages of 18 and 35 account for 51% of all voters, up from 46% in the 2013 election. But much of that increase came from young women. The number of women between 26 and 35 registering to vote increased 62% between 2017 and 2013, compared to 50% for males of the same age range, according to data analyzed by Data Science, a Nairobi-based research analytics company.

Their votes will matter in some of the most contested parts of the country. Twenty one of Kenya’s 47 counties have higher numbers of women registered to vote than men, including Turkana, Samburu, two of seven counties considered swing regions in this election, according to the risk consultancy Maplecroft.

Curiously, neither candidate has tried particularly hard to win women voters. Kenyatta’s wife, Margaret, has done the bulk of the ruling Jubilee party’s campaigning among women, promoting a vague platform of more of the same. “Allow us to finish the work we started,” she told a stadium of women in Kiambu county outside of Nairobi last week. She added that her husband would expand a welfare program for the elderly.

Odinga has focused a little more on female voters. He’s promised to start a fund for single mothers to use for starting small businesses and hired consultants to work on appealing to women. Still, most of Odinga’s overtures toward women has been complimenting women from Meru on their skin (a result of the local potatoes, he said), and calling on women to abstain from sex with their husbands to ensure that they vote.

Despite the lack of attention, the election is evidence of the larger role women are playing in politics in Kenya, where only 19% of parliament seats are held by women, the lowest proportion in East Africa. Nine women are running for gubernatorial positions. In Kirinyaga county, north of Nairobi, the governor’s race has narrowed down to two female candidates, both experienced politicians—Kenya’s former devolution cabinet secretary, Anne Waiguru, and Martha Karua, a former parliamentarian.

“It is time Kenyans got over the mentality that political seats are only for men. Women must fight for their political space to deliver their dreams,” Waiguru said earlier this month.

Sign up for the Quartz Africa Weekly Brief — the most important and interesting news from across the continent, in your inbox.</s>Social media and the spread of alarmist fake news might be what will make the difference in this maturing democracy.

Nairobi, Kenya - Kenyans are heading to the polls on Tuesday to elect a president. Voters will also choose governors, members of parliament and senators. But Tuesday's election is different. It is the election in which social media came of age. It is the one where fake news made an entrance and became mainstream.

Western PR firms have been hired to polish up the images of candidates and tarnish that of competitors. Attack ads have become common.

A record amount of money has been spent to convince millions of registered voters.

Taxpayers are footing most of it - a $480m bill to execute the poll, according to Kenya's national treasury.

The successful presidential candidate will spend at least $50m to get to the state house, according to Johnson Sakaja, the former chairman of the party that put President Uhuru Kenyatta in power in 2013.

The financial strain of the most expensive election in the country's history will be felt long after the August 8 election.

The two main candidates - President Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga - are going the extra mile to come out on top. Their main target: the youth - those between 18 and 35 - who make up more than half of the 19.6 million registered voters.

To make sure the young voters cast their ballot for them, candidates have set up digital teams and are working round the clock posting photos, videos and giving live commentary from campaign rallies.

Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are the new ways to reach these internet-savvy young voters.

READ MORE: Why Kenya's presidential election on August 8 matters

Dozens of slick campaign videos have been uploaded on Facebook in the past couple of weeks. When not sharing videos and photos on the social network the hopefuls are doing Facebook Lives to answer questions from voters who did not attend their rallies.

Nothing has been left to chance.

News conferences are having to compete with 140 characters posted on verified Twitter accounts of candidates.

Opponents have even traded virtual blows courtesy of social media.

Fake news of opinion polls claiming to be from the new channels BBC and CNN have been posted and widely shared on social media in an attempt to scare voters from opponents. Fake news sites have also popped up online.

The election in Kenya has changed drastically. And those candidates who do not adapt might find themselves out of office.

With polls suggesting a close election, social media and the spread of alarmist fake news might be what makes the difference in this maturing democracy.</s>NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The Latest on Kenya’s elections (all times local):

Former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who is observing Kenya’s elections, is calling for patience and says eventual vote-counting will be critical to the success of the process.

“There are a lot of people in line, and it is going to take some time, and we are going to need to be very patient,” said Kerry, chief election observer for The Carter Center. “But obviously, the transition from voting to counting is going to be critical and there is a process in place for that too. That’s why it is too early for us to be drawing any kinds of conclusions, but we will see where it goes.”

Kerry said that his team will be talking to election officials and other observers and that “over the course of the next day and a half, two days, solid judgments will begin to be made.”

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has voted in his birthplace of Gatundu, north of Nairobi.

Kenyans on Tuesday started voting in a fiercely contested election that pits Kenyatta against challenger Raila Odinga. This East Africa economic hub is known known for its relative, long-term stability as well as vying ethnic allegiances that shadow its democracy.

“I feel good. I feel positive because we ran a positive campaign,” Kenyatta said after casting his vote. He urged Kenyans to vote peacefully and go home to await the results. He was accompanied by his wife, Margaret, his mother and two of his three children.

“Peace. Peace. Peace,” said Kenyatta, who seeks a second and final term in office. “I say peace because Kenya was here before and it will be here after today.”

Raila Odinga, the main opposition challenger in Kenya’s tightly-contested election, has voted.

Odinga, 72, voted in the poor area of Kibera, an opposition stronghold in the capital, Nairobi, and was surrounded by well-wishers. He urged supporters to gather on Wednesday in a downtown park for what he predicted would be a celebration.

“Uhuru must go,” chanted some in the crowd, referring to President Uhuru Kenyatta, who seeks a second term in office.

A Kenyan legislator who supports Raila Odinga, the main opposition leader running for president, says he is worried about some flaws in the voting process in Kenya’s hotly contested elections.

Kenyan are voting Tuesday in the elections pitting Odinga against President Uhuru Kenyatta.

“We hope the counting process will be as good as the voting and the results will reflect the true winner,” said Ken Okoth, legislator for the Kibera constituency in Nairobi.

“There is concern over voter registration where people who corrected mistakes of their details cannot find their names on the list. I estimate between 500 and 1,000 people are affected by this,” he said.

Okoth called for vigilance, saying it brings credibility to the elections.

An international election observer says Kenyans are voting with enthusiasm and that the process is going well.

John Mahama, chief election observer for the Commonwealth and former president of Ghana, said early Tuesday that he is impressed by the voter turnout.

“There have been no incidents so far,” Mahama said. “Voting seems to be going smoothly and I think it is a good sign for Kenyan democracy.”

Kenya has 20 million registered voters out of a population of more than 40 million people. They are voting in a fiercely contested election that pits President Uhuru Kenyatta against challenger Raila Odinga.

A 102-year-old woman believed to be one of Kenya’s oldest citizens said she has voted for incumbent president Uhuru Kenyatta.

“I have come here to vote because good leadership comes from God. I want to vote because I believe God has kept me alive for so many years,” said Gathoni.

Kenyans on Tuesday started voting in an election that pits Kenyatta against challenger Raila Odinga in this East African economic hub known for its relative, long-term stability as well as the ethnic allegiances that shadow its democracy.

Election officials say the winner of Kenya’s presidential race must get more than 50 percent of the votes as well as one-quarter or more votes in at least 24 of Kenya’s 47 counties. If the front-runner falls short of those benchmarks, the two top contenders will contest a run-off vote.

President Uhuru Kenyatta and challenger Raila Odinga also faced off in the 2013 election. Kenyatta won by a thin margin, with just over 50 percent of the vote; Odinga alleged vote-tampering and took his case to Kenya’s highest court, which ruled in Kenyatta’s favor by validating the results.

Like many Kenyan voters, 34-year-old Fred Nyakundi arrived at a polling station several hours before it opened and waited in line in the dark before casting his vote.

“The exercise is very slow, but I am happy with the service I got,” said Nyakundi, who owns a carpentry business in Nairobi. “I am going home to open the business and wait for results.”

Another voter, 41-year-old Fatuma Ramadhan, thought the voting procedure was speedy. She was able to vote at 6 a.m., when polling stations opened, and then opened her restaurant to serve breakfast to other voters.

Early voters went to the polls across the country at sunrise. Election officials say the polls will close at 5 p.m. local time (10 a.m. Eastern Time, 14:00GMT) Vote counting will start immediately and results are expected within 24 to 48 hours, although authorities have up to a week to deliver official, final results.

Kenyans are voting in an election that pits President Uhuru Kenyatta against challenger Raila Odinga in an East African economic hub known as much for its relative, long-term stability as the ethnic allegiances that shadow its democracy.

A key concern after polls opened Tuesday was whether Kenya would echo its 2013 election, a mostly peaceful affair despite opposition allegations of vote-tampering, or the 2007 election, which led to violence fueled by ethnic divisions that killed more than 1,000 people.

Reaction to the result could partly depend on the performance of Kenya’s electoral commission, which will collect vote counts from more than 40,000 polling stations. Kenya has nearly 20 million registered voters.

Former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is among thousands of observers who are monitoring the election.

AP writers Chris Torchia and Tom Odula in Nairobi, Kenya contributed to this series.

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Voters in Kenya go to the polls to elect the President, as well as members of the National Assembly and Senate.