KENYA: Coalition for Democratic Change Presidential candidate Raila Odinga addresses thousands of his supporters in Nairobi ahead of March 4th election

Record ID: 346757

  • Title: KENYA: Coalition for Democratic Change Presidential candidate Raila Odinga addresses thousands of his supporters in Nairobi ahead of March 4th election
  • Date: 2nd March 2013
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Swahili) NAIROBI RESIDENT, JOSHUA ODHIAMBO, SAYING: "Raila will win because he has been with us for a very long time. We know that he will lead us to Caanan. We are ready to go and on Monday we will make sure that he wins the presidency." WIDE OF STADIUM, ODINGA ADDRESSING THE CHEERING CROWD
  • Embargoed: 17th March 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kenya
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVABE2IE3C6ZVQFP6M24UTNOHO25
  • Story Text: Coalition for Democratic Change Presidential candidate, Raila Odinga on Saturday (March 2) held his final campaign rally in Nairobi ahead of Monday's vote.
    Odinga, who is also Kenya's Prime Minister and Uhuru Kenyatta his deputy are favourites to succeed President Kibaki, in the first poll since the post-2007 election violence.
    Odinga's rally was attended by tens of thousands of people who thronged a football stadium in outskirts of the capital city, Nairobi donning his party colours, Orange.
    Promising victory, Odinga told his supporters that this was the country's most important election and asked them to turn out in large numbers on March 4th poll.
    "This election can only be compared with the elections of 1963 that brought the independence of our country. For 50 years, Kenyans have wondered in the wilderness and now have an opportunity through these elections to change the course of history," Odinga told his supporters Both Odinga and Kenyatta have promised to respect the result of the vote and have also urged their supporters to refrain from violence.
    Kenyatta and his running mate William Ruto have been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for instigating the violence after the 2007 race.
    The election is the first to be held under a new constitution, adopted in 2010 in an attempt to avoid a repeat of ethnic clashes in which more than 1,200 people were killed and an estimated 600,000 forced from their homes.
    "There have been two forces in our country pulling in two opposite directions, the forces for retention of status quo over the forces of change. This struggle has been long, it has been very consistent and sometimes it has even been violent," said Odinga The 2007-2008 post-poll chaos was triggered after Odinga claimed the election had been rigged.
    Odinga then joined the government as prime minister in a peace deal brokered to end the chaos.
    His supporters exuded confidence of an Odinga win in the first round.
    "Raila will win because he has been with us for a very long time. We know that he will lead us to Caanan. We are ready to go and on Monday we will make sure that he wins the presidency."
    The government and the the electoral body says some 99,000 police officers have been deployed around the country to ensure security.
    Presidential candidates must win more than 50 percent of the vote if not, a run-off has been scheduled for April 11th.
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