Kenyans have begun voting in an election rerun that has polarised the country and is likely to be fiercely disputed in the absence of the opposition leader Raila Odinga, who is boycotting the poll.
In stark contrast to the first edition of the election, which was annulled last month by the supreme court, many polling stations in the capital and Odinga’s strongholds saw only a trickle of voters.
In the Kibera slum in Nairobi, police fired teargas at opposition supporters who tried to set up barricades in front of a polling station, prompting them to lob rocks at the officers. Similar scenes were repeated in the western towns of Migori, Siaya and Homa Bay.
The election is the chaotic climax of a political drama that began when the supreme court overturned the victory of President Uhuru Kenyatta in the election on 8 August. It cited “irregularities” and mismanagement by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
Kenyatta is almost assured victory after the veteran opposition leader Odinga withdrew, citing fears the poll would be marred by the same flaws that saw the August vote overturned.
In Odinga’s western stronghold of Kisumu, several polling stations failed to open and police fired teargas to disperse groups of stone-throwing young men.The boycott, in an acrimonious political environment marked by violence and intimidation, is likely to tarnish the credibility of Kenyatta’s victory and open the result to for further legal battles.
Ballot boxes and electronic kits to identify voters and transmit results had not arrived in polling stations, and some officials faced attacks from opposition supporters while trying to deliver voting material, Agence France-Presse reported.
On Wednesday Odinga called for a campaign of civil disobedience and resistance, telling several thousand supporters in the centre of Nairobi that the polls were a “sham” and amounted to a “coup d’etat” by Kenyatta
There was relief that Odinga did not call for protests, which could have led to widespread violence, instead telling supporters to “hold vigils and prayers away from polling stations, or just stay at home”.
Odinga urged supporters on Wednesday to respect those who wanted to vote in the rerun.
“Do not look at your [neighbour] with suspicion … He or she is as much of a victim as you,” said Odinga, who has lost four times in elections.
In a televised speech on Wednesday evening, Kenyatta described the rerun as Kenya’s “greatest democratic test”, though he also warned: “Let no one infringe on his brother or sister’s right [to vote] .... Our security agencies have been deployed across the country to ensure the safety of each and every Kenyan.
Earlier in the day Kenya’s supreme court said it could not consider a petition to postpone the highly contentious vote because not enough justices were available to form a quorum.
Odinga’s claims of vote-rigging after his defeat in 2007 elections prompted rioting and retaliation by security forces, which tipped the country into its worst crisis for decades. About 1,200 people were killed in the ethnic violence that followed.
Many Kenyans say that the potential for violence is reduced now because the country has learned from its earlier traumatic experiences; though 37 people were killed in protests after the August poll, widespread clashes have been avoided.
Agence France-Presse contributed to this report
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