Kenya : Main opposition boycots rescheduled presidential election

President Uhuru Kenyatta, posing here with a voter, said it was time for the country to move on

Kenyans are today voting amid tight security in a re-run of the presidential election, which is being boycotted by the main opposition.

A teenage boy was shot by police and later died amid clashes in Kisumu, an opposition stronghold where some have blocked access to polling stations.

President Uhuru Kenyatta was declared the winner in an August vote, but it is being held again over "irregularities".

Turnout appears high in ruling party strongholds but lower elsewhere.

Mr Kenyatta is seeking a second term. Opposition leader Raila Odinga has pulled out of the contest.

The polls opened at 06:00 (03:00 GMT) with tens of thousands of police and other security staff deployed to protect voters and polling stations.

International observers have scaled down their missions for security reasons.

One voter in Nairobi's Mathare slum, taxi driver David Njeru, 26, told the AFP news agency: "It is my duty to vote. Last time the queue was all around the block and I waited six hours to vote, this time the people are few."

After casting his vote in the town of Gatundu, Mr Kenyatta urged people to cast their ballots so the country could move on.

"We're tired as a country of electioneering. It's time we moved forward," he said, adding that most of the country was "calm and peaceful".

Live rounds have been fired by police in the opposition stronghold of Kisumu, in western Kenya, killing at least one person.

Nineteen-year-old George Odhiambo was brought to the main hospital in Kisumu bleeding heavily from a thigh wound. His brother told me that they had been sitting outside their house watching opposition demonstrations when he was shot. Four other patients nursing gunshot wounds are all in a stable condition.

We've been coming across pockets of protesters as we drive around the city - with police firing teargas to disperse them. Most people here have heeded the boycott call by the opposition and stayed at home, and many polling stations have been barricaded to stop any would-be voters.

A voting official in Kisumu told me just three of 399 polling station officials had turned up, fearing they might face intimidation for taking part in the election. A lone but determined voter came to the main polling distribution centre this morning to find out how he could vote as his polling station was closed.

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Image captionRaila Odinga told his supporters: "We are going to win the battle"

Mr Odinga had vowed to disrupt Thursday's vote, calling for "massive" demonstrations, but has asked his supporters to stay away from polling stations in an attempt to avoid violent clashes.

In a statement earlier this month, he accused the government of instituting a "dictatorship", adding: "We are going to win the battle for a free and fair election".

"Our opponents want an election for the sake of it, we want a better election," he said.