Raila Odinga files Kenya election appeal

Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga has filed a Supreme Court appeal against Uhuru Kenyatta’s narrow victory in the presidential election’s first round.Mr Kenyatta beat Mr Odinga comfortably by 50.7% to 43.28% on 4 March, avoiding a run-off by only 8,100 votes.But Mr Odinga has accused the electoral authorities of manipulating the result.Police fired tear gas to disperse about 100 supporters of his Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (Cord) who had gathered outside the Supreme Court.Some of the crowd were wearing t-shirts bearing slogans including “I support the petition” and “Democracy on trial”.The presidential, legislative and municipal elections held 12 days ago were the first since the 2007 poll which set off ethnic and political violence in which more than 1,200 people were killed. Mr Kenyatta and his running mate, William Ruto, are facing trial on charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for allegedly fuelling the unrest. They deny the charges.Lawyers for Mr Odinga said their petition to the Supreme Court included allegations of vote manipulation, as well as problems with the registration of voters and an electronic vote counting mechanism.Supporters of Raila Odinga outside the Supreme Court in Nairobi (16 March 2013) Supporters of Mr Odinga’s party were dispersed by police after gathering outside the Supreme CourtAgencies