Kenya: President Kibaki leading in poll

(SomaliNet) President Mwai Kibaki would get the most votes but not enough to win a second term if Kenya\'s presidential elections were held today, according to a poll released on Tuesday.

The elections, scheduled for December, will be the first time an incumbent president faces a credible challenger.

When Kibaki ran in 2002, his predecessor, Daniel arap Moi, was barred constitutionally from extending his 24 years in power. Moi, whose presidency was tainted by vast corruption, won in 1992 and 1997 amid vote rigging allegations.

About 42 percent of Kenyans said they would vote for Kibaki if the elections were held today, according to the survey by Rochester, New York\'s Harris Poll and Kenyan research company, Infotrak. Pollsters interviewed 2 400 people in Kenya\'s eight provinces and the margin of error was 0,05 percent.
Kibaki\'s closest rival is his former Cabinet minister Raila Odinga, who got 25 percent of the vote in the poll.

Kenya\'s constitution requires the winning presidential candidate, besides having the most votes, must garner a minimum of 25 percent of votes cast in at least five of Kenya\'s eight provinces. The aim of the provision is to guard against an incoming president not having a broad support base in a country where tribal bias drives government policy, appointments and budgetary allocations.

According to the poll, Kibaki would not fulfil the 25 percent rule.

The Centre for Multiparty Democracy-Kenya commissioned the poll. The centre is a non-governmental organisation Kenya\'s main political parties formed in 2004 to help them hold elections and be more democratic.

The poll also found that 51 percent of Kenyans would vote for a female president - a surprising result in a country where political parties are dominated by men and society holds strongly to traditional female roles.

There are 14 women in Kenya\'s 222-member National Assembly, but only nine of them were elected. The rest were nominated by their political parties.

Njeri Kabeberi, the executive director of the Centre for Multi-party Democracy-Kenya, said the poll also showed Kenyan voters would choose any candidate who is aggressive, confident and visibly campaigning.

\"I think the women leaders have not come out strongly whether they are standing or not,\" Kabeberi told The Associated Press. \"Therefore if they aggressively did (campaign), the voter would be swayed to vote for a number of women (legislators) or even a woman presidential candidate.\"

The poll also found 90 percent of Kenya\'s lawmakers will be voted out in the upcoming elections, which is much higher than the traditional minimum of 30 percent of lawmakers voted out at each election since Kenya got its independence from Britain in 1963.

About 54 percent of Kenyans are not happy with Kenya\'s current political leaders because they think the leaders are corrupt, power hungry and ineffective as among the top three reasons. Respondents said a president should address crime, corruption and education as the top three issues. - Sapa-AP