The race to determine Kenya’s next president officially began on Wednesday, November 14 following the invitation by the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) to all presidential candidates to present their formal papers by the end of this week. In total, approximately 17 aspirants are expected to tender their papers with the ECK before the launch of the campaigns for the presidential, parliamentary and civic seats expected to be announced by the ECK next week. The campaigns will run for a minimum of 21 days before the polls take place on December 27.
All presidential candidates must meet the following criteria:

Be at least 35 years old
Be Kenyan citizens
Be a registered voter
Have a proposer and a seconder for their presidential bid
Have a letter from the nominating party
Have a list of signatures from at least 1,000 supporters ( a minimum of 100 each from five different provinces who must be registered voters and must have their details confirmed by the ECK)
Must not have any criminal or electoral offense case in court

Three presidential candidates were cleared to run on the first day of the exercise namely ODM-Kenya’s Kalonzo Musyoka, ODM’s Raila Odinga and tele-evangelist Pius Muiru running on the Kenya People’s Party ticket. The incumbent President, who is seeking re-election on the Party of National Unity (PNU) ticket, is due to present his papers a day after his main rivals with other candidates following in tow, until the completion of the exercise at the end of the week.
The leading presidential candidates made elaborate arrangements to publicize and drum up support for their bids. Kalonzo Musyoka launched his party’s manifesto at the Kamukunji stadium, historically associated with the pre-independence political rallies. On his part, Raila Odinga took a road show through Nairobi’s streets and estates in the eastern suburbs before addressing a public rally in his Kibera constituency. The incumbent President Kibaki is choose to address a public rally at the Nyayo national stadium after presenting his nomination papers to the ECK.