Kenya’s police fire teargas as election protesters barricade roads

Voting in one of Kenya’s largest slums was interrupted when protesters barricaded roads leading to polling stations as they engaged police with running battles on Thursday.

According to Press TV, police were forced to fire teargas to disperse the protesters in one of the opposition leaders' stronghold.

Kenya’s presidential election re-run is overshadowed by an opposition boycott that will almost certainly hand victory to President Uhuru Kenyatta, but with a mandate compromised by low turnout and procedural flaws.

Those shortcomings, already acknowledged by judges and the election commission, are likely to trigger legal challenges.

Meanwhile, Kenyan police sealed off the Supreme Court building in the capital on Wednesday as judges prepared to hear a petition to delay this week’s presidential election, a re-run of an August vote that was nullified by the same court.

Streets around the court in downtown Nairobi were blocked by police barriers and officers in anti-riot gear.

The court, created by a 2010 constitution that followed a violent political crisis three years earlier, is due to hear several cases challenging the legality of Thursday’s election, which is being boycotted by opposition Leader Raila Odinga.

ME