At least one dead, 11 injured when car crashes into crowd at election rally in Kenya

At least one person has died and 11 others are injured after a vehicle ran over a group of attendees at a rally held in southwestern Kenya, at the close of campaigning ahead of next Tuesday’s general elections.

The incident has taken place in the town of Eburi, Kisii County, for reasons still under investigation, but the first testimonies point out that behind the wheel was the politician Frank Mirina, candidate for a local elections in Kisii Central, who ended up running over a group of people who had blocked the road and demanded to talk to him.

The Toyota Land Cruiser he was driving, part of a motorcade of fellow Kisii Central gubernatorial candidate Simba Arati, was later burned by an angry mob.

Kisii Police commander Musyoki Mutungi has explained that the causes of the incident are under investigation and has called for calm during the last hours of campaigning in Kenya, reports Kenyan daily ‘The Nation’.

The main contenders for the Kenyan presidential elections, Raila Odinga and William Ruto, have pledged to ask their supporters to refrain from resorting to violence during the election campaign as opposed to what happened in the 2017 elections, which resulted in half a hundred dead and more than a hundred injured.

Odinga leads the opinion polls ahead of the elections next August 9 with almost two points difference over Ruto. The leader of the Azimio La Umoja coalition and ally of President Kenyatta obtained 46.7 percent of voting intention against 44.4 percent of his rival and leader of the so-called United Democratic Alliance, according to a Tifa opinion poll.