34.5 per cent turnout in Kenya vote re-run: Election Commission head

An estimated 6.55 million Kenyans voted in Thursday's presidential election re-run, just 34.5 per cent of registered voters, Wafula Chebukati, election commission chairman, said on Twitter.

Turnout in the August vote that was later annulled by the courts was 80 percent. Opposition leader Raila Odinga boycotted the re-run, saying the election commission had failed to change any of the key personnel involved in the botched first attempt.

Kenyans began voting Thursday in a repeat election that has polarised the nation and is likely to be fiercely disputed in the absence of opposition leader Raila Odinga, who is boycotting the vote.

The election is the chaotic climax of a political drama that began when the Supreme Court overturned the victory of President Uhuru Kenyatta in the August 8 elections.