NAIROBI: Kenya's next presidential and parliamentary elections will be held on March 4, 2013, unless a collapse of the ruling coalition forces an earlier poll, the country's electoral commission said on Saturday.
The election will come under intense scrutiny because it will be the first since a contested 2007 poll triggered fighting in which more than 1,220 people were killed.
It will also be the first vote since the east African country adopted a new constitution.
The High Court surprised Kenyans by ruling in January that the poll should be held in March 2013 and not this August as stipulated by the constitution - barring an early vote in case of a government crisis.
The electoral body that set the date conceded it could change if the coalition, which was created to end the violence after the 2007 election, collapses.
President Mwai Kibaki, who is barred by law from seeking a third term, and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who leads in opinion polls in the race to replace him, have been at odds over the election date, putting their already fragile coalition under further strain.
Analysts said all eyes are now on Odinga, who had pushed to hold the vote in December, to see if he will walk out of the coalition, triggering its collapse and forcing early elections.
Isaack Hassan, chairman of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), said the date had been set after "extensive consultations" with the president and the prime minister. "There is no agreement between them," he said.
But, he added, "the country needs to know the election date, we must remove the uncertainty, anxiety and suspense surrounding the date."
Polls show a majority of Kenyans still favour elections this year. They are keen to vote out some legislators they consider lazy, corrupt or greedy, and say the lawmakers, among the best-paid in the world, have done little to develop the country.
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