Kenyan president signs election amendments law

KENYAN President Uhuru Kenyatta approved a law that would require backup plans for August election if electronic voting system failed.

He approved the law despite fierce opposition from rivals who say any manual arrangements would open the ballot to rigging.

Veteran opposition leader, Raila Odinga, disputed the result of the 2013 race, which he lost to Kenyatta after electronic voter identification and other election systems collapsed.

He has led opposition to the new law.

The build-up to the 2017 vote has already been marred by protests and clashes with police that led to at least four deaths.

In 2016 demonstrations were sparked by a row over who sat on a committee overseeing the conduct of the election.

The government agreed to replace the commissioners in a deal with the opposition.

Odinga has tried and failed to win the presidency in three previous elections, including in 2013 and 2007 when Odinga said the poll was rigged and about 1,200 people were killed in ethnic fuelled violence.