The day finally came. 4th March 2013. Our election day. According to the new constitution it was supposed to be in August 2012 but was postponed. Kenyans have been waiting for this day, to decide one president and one government not a coalition decided from a crisis. I was hired by Agence France-Presse (AFP) to cover the elections from inside Nairobi’s Kibera slum which was the scene of much of Kenya’s 2007/8 election violence being a stronghold for Raila Odinga then the opposition party now one of the 2013 Presidential candidates. You can view a selection of my images from the 2007/8 elections and post-election violence here on my blog.
The election day images I filed to AFP are on my official website please click here to view. Herewith below is a selection of images from Kenya’s election day 4th March 2013.
** All Images Strictly Copyright (c) Georgina Goodwin. All Rights Reserved.**

7am: Dawn voter queue for Toi Market polling station near Kibera Slum

8am: View from residential balcony with a tied up chicken of voter queue at Old Kibera Primary School polling station

8.10am: Voters and Officials with seated onlooking Observers at Old Kibera polling station

8.20am: 5yr old Mwangaa with queues behind on voting day in Nairobi’s Kibera slum

8.20am: 5yr old Mwangaa with the ‘B’ queue for voters at Kibra Social Grounds, Nairobi

9am: Prime Minister and 2013 Presidential candidate Raila Odinga after he cast his ballot at Old Kibera Primary School

9.15am: Prime Minister and 2013 Presidential candidate Raila Odinga’s wife Ida Odinga waits for him in the car while he casts his vote at Old Kibera Primary School.

10am: Balcony chicken overlooking Old Kibera Primary School voter queue

11am: View over Nairobi’s Kibera slum with election posters

12am: Singer-guitarist 20yr old “Mandela” sings to entertain voters in the queue

1pm: “Kaptain” Mohamed Ali – voter ID security check volunteer

1pm: “Kaptain” Mohamed Ali checks voter ID cards

2pm: Voter queues and IEBC queuing clerk at Olympic Primary School in Kibera

3pm: Hawa Hassan, a Nubian born in Kibera in 1953, gets ready to leave her house with her Kenyan ID needed in order to vote. For almost 100 years Nubians have been denied Kenyan citizenship since the British brought them from southern Sudan to work as soldiers now they have all been granted status and are voting in Kenya’s 2013 elections.

3.20pm: Hassan Ali, a 30yr old Nubian living in Kibera, heads to the voting queues. For almost 100 yrs Nubians have been denied Kenyan citizenship after being brought from southern Sudan to work as soldier by the British. They now have full status and are voting in Kenya’s 2013 elections.

4pm: Aisha Ali, a Nubian born in Kibera in 1956, about to cast her vote. Nubians were denied Kenyan citizenship for almost 100 yrs since they were brought from southern Sudan by the British as soldiers. Now they have status and can vote.

4.15pm: Aisha Ali, a Nubian born in 1956 in Kibera, gets her finger marked after voting. Nubians were denied citizenship for almost 100 yrs in Kenya after they were brought to be soldiers from southern Sudan by the British. Now they have been granted status and are voting.

4.30pm: 5yr old Zamzam and her sisters go for a walk alongside voter queues on election voting day.

5pm: Voter at Old Kibera Primary School polling station

6.30pm: The last voter queue at Kibra Social Grounds on election day

7pm: Last votes going in around 8pm at Kibra Social Grounds

8.30pm: Tired officials formally close the ballot boxes at Kibra Social Grounds

9pm: Vote counting starts counting at Kibra Social Grounds

9.30pm: Ballot papers are opened by lamplight and shown to a panel of officials, the paper piled on the correct resulting candidates. Kibra Social Grounds