Gunshots, tear gas and water cannon as Kenyans vote again
POLICE fired gunshots and tear gas to disperse stone-throwing protesters in opposition strongholds of Kenya today as the country held its second presidential election in just three months.
Some protesters chanted “no election”, which has become the opposition’s catchphrase in a vote that is deeply dividing east Africa’s economic powerhouse. Others barricaded polling stations. In Kisumu, Kenya’s third big gest cit y and an opposition stronghold, police fired live rounds and water cannon. Kenya was going back to the ballot box after its supreme court nullified the results of the August presidential election, won by the incumbent president Uhuru Kenyatta, citing “irregularities” in the process. The opposition National Super Alliance (Nasa) coalition has withdrawn from today’s poll and called on its supporters to boycott the vote, claiming that reforms to the electoral commission have not been made. A last-minute legal challenge to have the election postponed failed yesterday.
Turnout across the country was low compared to the queues that took hours to clear in August. In certain opposition areas polling stations were almost entirely empty and some were yet to open by mid-morning.
At a peaceful and often jubilant rally yesterday, opposition presidential candidate Raila Odinga announced that Nasa would be transformed “into a resistance movement”.
He said he would convene a “people’s assembly” and ensure that “a fresh, free and fair presidential election is organised within 90 days”.
President Kenyatta addressed the nation soon after, as heavy rain fell on the capital, calling on Kenyans “to turn out once again and vote”. He promised that “securit y agents have been deployed across the country to ensure the safety of each and every Kenyan.”
Last week one of the country’s leading electoral officials fled to the United States, saying that she feared for her life. Later the same day, the chair of the embattled electoral commission said he could not guarantee “free, fair and credible elections”.