Kenya Says Eight Party Candidates to Run for President in August

(Bloomberg) -- Candidates from eight political parties registered to run for president in Kenya’s August elections, the electoral body said, in a race that’s set to be dominated by incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta and four-time contender Raila Odinga.

The Independent Electoral & Boundaries Commission announced the number on its Twitter account, without naming the contenders. It said parties had registered a total of 11,309 candidates for the Aug. 8 elections, which will include votes for the presidency, governors, senate and county assemblies. It didn’t give details on any independent candidates.

Kenyan elections are fractious times for investors because of violence that engulfed the nation in three of the past five votes. In a disputed December 2007 vote, ethnic violence left 1,100 people dead and forced 350,000 to flee their homes. The polls may “heighten political instability,” according to the International Monetary Fund, which cut its growth 2017 forecast for Kenya to 5.3 percent from an earlier 6 percent projection.

Kenyatta, 55, who’s seeking another five-year term, is competing against Odinga, a former prime minister who represents a five-party opposition alliance. Increased interest in county-level positions of governor and assemblies is likely to stoke potential for violence in those areas, the Washington-based National Democratic Institute said in April. Kenya has 47 counties after it devolved power in 2013.

To contact the reporter on this story: Felix Njini in Nairobi at fnjini@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alastair Reed at areed12@bloomberg.net, Michael Gunn, Karl Maier