Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Kenya opposition leader urges boycott on eve of rerun vote
NAIROBI, Kenya — The leader of Kenya’s main opposition party urged supporters to boycott a rerun of the disputed presidential election scheduled for Thursday amid rising political tensions and fears of violence in the East African country.
Jubilant supporters of President Uhuru Kenyatta, who is seeking a second term, celebrated the news that the election will proceed. In a televised address Wednesday, Kenyatta urged Kenyans to vote, but he also said the rights of those who don’t want to vote are protected under the law.
His electoral rival, opposition leader Raila Odinga, called on his political coalition to become a “resistance movement,” accusing the president of moving a country known for relative stability and openness toward authoritarian rule.
“Do not participate,” Odinga told thousands of followers in Nairobi’s Uhuru Park on the eve of the vote. The gathering was mostly peaceful, though police fired tear gas to disperse some opposition supporters who were occupying roads after the rally.
Protesters also set fires and blocked roads in part of Nairobi’s Kibera slum, and police and demonstrators clashed throughout the day in some neighborhoods in Kisumu, Kenya’s thirdlargest city and an opposition stronghold.
Kenya’s Supreme Court failed Wednesday to muster enough judges to hear a last-minute petition that sought to postpone the vote, a rerun of an election in August that was won by Kenyatta but then annulled last month by the court due to what it called irregularities and illegalities.