Kenya sets general election for March 4, 2013

Kenyan premier Raila Amolo Odinga (left) with EU President Jose Manuel Barroso in Brussels last week. By Georges Gobet (AFP/File)

NAIROBI (AFP) - Kenya fixed the date Saturday for the first general elections since deadly post-poll violence four year ago, naming March 4, 2013, to end weeks of heated exchanges between rival politicians.

"We are going by a constitutional court ruling... which requires us to hold elections 60 days from when the parliament term ends," said Ahmed Issack Hassan, chairman of Kenya's Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).