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No end in sight to election violence

UNREST continued in Kenya yesterday after Thursday’s opposition-boycotted presidential election rerun received an abysmal turnout.

A 12-year-old boy and three others were shot and injured by police in Migori county.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission said about 6.5 million Kenyans had voted, about a third of the electorate.

That was compared to the 80 per cent turnout in August’s election, when incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta narrowly beat Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader Raila Odinga.

The Supreme Court annulled that result over allegations of ballot-rigging.

But Mr Odinga pulled out of the rerun ordered by the court two weeks before polling day, saying there was no guarantee that the fraud would not be repeated.

On Thursday, Mr Uhuru blamed “tribalism” for the unrest.

Election commission chairman Wafula Chebukati vowed to continue with supplementary voting today in areas where polling stations did not open on Thursday due to opposition protests.

Church leaders in the ODM stronghold of Kisumu country urged him to change tack, fearing bloodshed.

And Kisumu’s ODM governor Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o called the decision a “joke.”

He said if Mr Chebukati “wants to hold the election here, he is just going to cause more deaths.”

Leading ODM member Musalia Mudavadi urged residents to maintain their boycott of the vote.

Mr Chebukati said he understood the fatigue felt by citizens over the crisis, saying: “We acknowledge the fact that you want to move on with your lives.”

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