Kenyans Vote in Tight Race Amid Shifting Alliances, Struggling Economy

NAIROBI, Kenya—Voters across Kenya headed to the polls Tuesday in a finely balanced presidential race between two longtime allies turned fierce rivals, one associated with this East African country’s founding families and the other claiming the mantle of its struggling working class.

Looming over the day were memories of previous election disputes that turned violent. The 2007 vote led to ethnic clashes that left some 1,100 people dead and 600,000 people displaced. After the troubled 2017 elections, police killed dozens of protesters and the supreme court ultimately ordered a rerun because of fraud concerns.