Kenya Coalition Faces Cohesion Test in By-elections

Kenyans will this Wednesday vote in five parliamentary by-elections, which analysts believe are set to indicate the level of cohesiveness in the country’s two-month coalition government. The race for the five seats pits President Mwai Kibaki’s PNU Alliance against Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement (ODM). Odinga’s party will be seeking to retain its current parliamentary majority, while the PNU Alliance will be looking to shore up its numbers in the House. The coalition government was formed after Kibaki and Odinga both claimed victory in the country’s December 2007 presidential election, leading to intense ethnic clashes that claimed over 1500 lives. [P.E]