Opposition supporters in Kenya have fought running battles with police as voters headed to the polls in a contentious election rerun that has polarised the country. Raila Odinga, the opposition leader, has called for a boycott and in stark contrast to the first election, which the supreme court annulled last month, many polling stations in opposition strongholds received only a trickle of voters.

In areas loyal to Uhuru Kenyatta, the incumbent who won the original election, voting was brisk, though turnout appeared to be lower than for the previous election. One man was shot dead and three others injured during protests in Odinga’s western stronghold of Kisumu, a nurse at the main government hospital said. In Nairobi’s Kibera slum, tangled wire and charred streets marked the spots where sporadic outbreaks of violence took place overnight. Police fired teargas and live rounds into the air as crowds of youthful opposition supporters threw rocks and tried to storm a polling station at a primary school in the centre of the slum. Two people were injured with suspected bullet wounds.(theguardian)…[+]