Long Lines, High Turnout and Dedication to Vote, Kenya-Style

By: Jenée Desmond-Harris | Posted: March 4, 2013 at 1:06 PM

Polling-station lines in Kenya (the Washington Post)

We know what a tight national election with high enthusiasm and willingness to brave long lines looks like here in the United States. Monday's Washington Post has a peek at what it looks like in Kenya, where millions voted in national elections Monday, with turnout predicted to be some of the highest in the country's history.

Citizens in Nairobi and all across the country arrived at the polls before sunrise and waited "for hours in long, snaking lines to cast ballots for presidential, parliamentary and provincial candidates," the Post reports. This voting day comes five years after postelection violence devastated the country's economy. Polls show a tight race between Prime Minister Raila Odinga and his main rival, Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, wih six other candidates also competing for the presidency.

So far everything seems to be going smoothly. "It's very different from 2007," election monitor Ruth Namulundu told the Post. "It's more calm now. If the voting continues like this, everything will be fine."

Read more at the Washington Post.

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