NAIROBI - Kenyan police fired teargas to disperse stone-throwing supporters of the country's main presidential contenders on Monday after the candidates made a final push to win votes in a race deemed too close to call.
Scuffles briefly flared shortly after President Mwai Kibaki and his opposition challenger, Raila Odinga, addressed huge rallies in the capital on the last day of campaigning before Thursday's election.
Hawkers and shoppers fled as rival supporters, crossing paths in downtown Nairobi, hurled stones at each other before the police arrived and fired teargas canisters at the crowds.
"These elections are spoiling my Christmas. It's very tough this year," said Lucy Mungua, who was caught up in the melee.
"No one wants to lose or be beaten."
With the latest opinion polls showing a couple of percentage points between the one-time allies, Kenyans fear the closeness of the contest will provoke rigging and more violence in the relatively young east African democracy of 36 million people.
Seeking a second term, Kibaki promised to pursue his record of economic growth and free schooling as thousands of supporters, wearing the blue of his Party of National Unity (PNU), sang and danced in the blazing sun.
"Everybody can see the work I have done in the past five years," he told crowds gathered at Nairobi's main Uhuru (Freedom) Park. "You all know what we have been doing and I am asking for your votes so that I can continue working."
Looking relaxed in an African print shirt, the 76-year-old incumbent took a dig at Odinga, who along with some of his aides was sacked from Kibaki's cabinet in 2005 for opposing a government-backed charter.
"They were in government but were defeated by the work."
