Nairobi, Kenya ? President Daniel arap Moi officially announced the end of his 24-year rule of Kenya on Friday, dissolving parliament and kicking off campaigning that pits the son of the nation’s first president against a veteran opposition politician.

No date has been set for the election the first in which a Kenya president has been constitutionally obliged to step down but it must be held within 90 days. It will be the third election since the return of multiparty politics in 1991.

With Moi out of the race, the ruling Kenya African National Union has nominated Uhuru Kenyatta, son of Moi’s predecessor, Jomo Kenyatta, for president. Moi came to power when Jomo Kenyatta died in 1978.

Uhuru Kenyatta, a relative political novice, faces an opposition unified like never before in Kenya’s history.

His toughest challenge is likely to come from Mwai Kibaki, 71, a former vice president who leads a key alliance of opposition parties known as the National Rainbow Coalition.

“These are probably as significant elections as we have ever had since independence,” said the Rev. Mutava Musyimi, secretary-general of the National Council of Churches of Kenya.

The elections will take place as the nation of 30 million people, once a success story in a region of turmoil and underdevelopment, weathers its worst economic crisis since independence from Britain in 1963.

Critics blame corruption and government mismanagement for the problems in Kenya, the largest economy in East Africa.

And Moi’s insistent backing of Kenyatta, 41, as KANU’s candidate has sparked a split in the ruling party. A number of key KANU stalwarts, including Cabinet ministers and former Vice President George Saitoti, have defected to the opposition.

Kenyatta already has said he would seek 78-year-old Moi’s advice if elected, and Moi who will remain KANU’s chairman has said he wants to stay involved in politics.

Opposition officials say this is their best opportunity to break KANU’s 39-year grip on power. In the past, the opposition has been beset by huge divisions, mainly along tribal lines, but this year there appears to be unprecedented unity.