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At least 15 people have killed in election day violence in Kenya, but that hasn't stopped millions of citizens from waiting for hours to vote in the nation's first presidential election since 2007. Gangs of men affiliated with a regional secessionist movement descended on a handful of polling places with guns and machetes, sparking battles with police that left both officers and gang members dead. At least 20 others were injured after a stampede at a crowded polling station south of the capital of Nairobi.

Still, given the outrageous violence that occurred during the last Kenyan election, today's relative calm and long lines were an encouraging sign for pro-democratic forces. The disputed results of the last election led to widespread sectarian violence that killed more than 1,200 people and displaced hundredes of thousands.

The new poll attacks are being blamed on the Mombasa Republican Council, a secessionist group calling for city of Mobasa and it surrounding region to declare independence from greater Kenya.