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NAIROBI-Kenyans started voting Thursday to decide the nation's closest-ever presidential race, with the ageing incumbent and a fiery opposition leader neck-and-neck and tensions simmering over alleged fraud.Mwai Kibaki, 76, is seeking a second term, boasting a solid economic record and continued stability, while former political prisoner Raila Odinga, 62, seeks to clinch the job that has eluded him and his father for so long.For the first time since the 1963 independence from Britain, Kenya's 14 million voters were heading to the country's 27,000 polling stations with no certainties on the winner's identity.Hundreds of people carrying their voter IDs could be seen flocking to polling stations before dawn, lining up when the first ones opened at around 6:00 am (0300 GMT).Where voting was late to start, some keen voters were chomping at the bit."I slept here because I want to ensure that there is no rigging. We want to vote for change, for change," said Robert Kipkurui, a voter in the western Rift Valley town of Eldoret."I expect a great turnout becuase people are desperate for change and I hope we will have a free and fair election. I can see change coming," said another voter at the capital's Holy Family Basilica.After lavish campaigns on both sides, the run-up to Kenya's fourth elections since pluralism was reintroduced was marred by opposition accusations that Kibaki's camp was planning to rig the ballot."I've appealed to President Kibaki to prevail on his agents against election rigging acts that could plunge this country into bloodshed ... My appeal has gone unheeded," Odinga said on Tuesday.Moments later, angry mobs of his supporters in western Kenya attacked administrative police deployed across the country, accusing them of carrying stuffed ballot boxes.Three policemen died and 10 were wounded, while a dozen demonstrators were injured when riot police broke up a demonstration with tear gas, heightening fears that voting day could be disrupted by violence.Kenya is considered a beacon of democracy and stability in a region plagued by conflicts, but it has a history of electoral violence and observers have feared that escalating tribal rhetoric could lead to communal strife.Final opinion polls released last week gave Odinga 43 to 45 percent, ahead of Kibaki's 36.7 to 43 percent. Only a survey conducted by US pollster Gallup showed Kibaki on top, with 44 percent to Odinga's 43 percent.Opinion pollsters indicate Odinga's charisma has gained him support beyond his tribal constituency. But he has joined seven political parties in 15 years, earning a reputation as a populist and opportunist.Kibaki on Wednesday denied allegations of state-engineered rigging and said that 65,000 security forces had been deployed across the country to ensure a smooth voting process.He also said that the ballot would be monitored by some 30,000 local and international election observers.There are few noticeable ideological differences between the two frontrunners but financial circles lean towards Kibaki, under whose tenure Kenya's economy-the region's largest-has expanded by an average of five percent a year.While Odinga has cast himself as the candidate of change and the champion of the poor, Kibaki has advocated continuity despite being criticised for failing to tackle corruption and deliver constitutional reforms.Kalonzo Musyoka, a 54-year-old born again Christian who was in Odinga's party until a few months ago, is the third man in the race, while six other candidates are expected to record negligeable scores.Kenyans will also elect 210 members of parliament and more than 2,000 local councillors, with some observers predicting that increasingly demanding voters could vote out up to 70 percent of sitting MPs.As in the days of Noah....
