Kenya opposition leader Raila Odinga has withdrawn his candidacy for the fresh presidential election ordered by the country's Supreme Court. 

Odinga made the surprise announcement on Tuesday. It was his legal challenge that led the court to nullify the August 8 election that President Uhuru Kenyatta won.

The court also ordered a new election, which is set for October 26. It was the first time a court had overturned the results of a presidential election in Africa.

Odinga said the election commission has not made the changes to avoid the "irregularities and illegalities" cited in the nullified August vote.

He said "there's no intention" on the part of Kenya's election commission to undertake any changes before the vote.

TRT World'sStaci Bivens has more.

August elections were scrapped

Raila Odinga had called for countrywide protests to urge reforms to the electoral commission ahead of the rerun of the elections. 

The Supreme Court nullified Kenyatta's August re-election, citing illegalities in the vote and the electoral commission's refusal to allow scrutiny of its computer system. 

Justices said that by failing to allow the investigation of the computers the commission failed to disprove Odinga's claim that hackers infiltrated the servers and altered the vote in favour of Kenyatta.

Kenyatta has said he does not want changes to the electoral commission. 

His Jubilee Party has instead used its parliamentary majority to pass changes in the electoral law ahead of the renewed elections.

The opposition says the changes are meant to make the transmission of results a manual process that has less safeguards against electoral fraud. 

They also say the changes make it more difficult for the Supreme Court to annul a presidential election. 

Odinga had threatened to boycott the fresh elections if the electoral commission is not reformed.

Electoral commission reform wanted

On Monday, witnesses say three people were seriously wounded during opposition demonstrations for changes to Kenya’s electoral commission.

The government's human rights group said at least 37 people were killed by police in three days of protests following the announcement of President Uhuru Kenyatta's re-election in the August vote.

Last Friday, there were also mass peaceful protests in the capital and other strongholds to demand the exit of several electoral officials. 

Protestors in Nairobi carried placards saying "Chiloba Must Go," citing the chairman of the electoral commission that the opposition wants gone before the repeat election.