Kenyan general election, 1961

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General elections were held in Kenya in February 1961. The result was a victory for the Kenya African National Union, which won 19 of the 53 elected seats.

Kenya republic in East Africa

Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country in Africa with 47 semiautonomous counties governed by elected governors. At 580,367 square kilometres (224,081 sq mi), Kenya is the world's 48th largest country by total area. With a population of more than 52.2 million people, Kenya is the 27th most populous country. Kenya's capital and largest city is Nairobi while its oldest city and first capital is the coastal city of Mombasa. Kisumu City is the third largest city and a critical inland port at Lake Victoria. Other important urban centres include Nakuru and Eldoret.

Kenya African National Union Kenyan political party (Founded 1960, sole legal party 1982-1991. Absorbed the National Development Party in 2002.)

The Kenya African National Union (KANU) is a Kenyan political party that ruled for nearly 40 years after Kenya's independence from British colonial rule in 1963 until its electoral loss in 2002. It was known as Kenya African Union (KAU) from 1944 to 1952.KAU was banned by the colonial government from 1952 to 1960.It was re-established by James Gichuru in 1960 and renamed to KANU on 14 May 1960 after a merger with Tom Mboya's Kenya Independence Movement.

Contents

Electoral system

Twenty seats were reserved for minority communities; ten for whites, eight for Indians and two for Arabs. There were also twelve appointees. [1] Primary elections were held for the reserved seats by members of the respective communities, and candidates receiving at least 25% of the vote advanced to the main elections. [2]

White people in Kenya or White Kenyans, are those born in or resident in Kenya who descend from Europeans and/or identify themselves as white. There is currently a minor but relatively prominent white community in Kenya, mainly descended from British, but also to a lesser extent Italian and Greek, migrants dating from the colonial period.

Indians in Kenya are citizens and residents of Kenya with ancestral roots in the Indian subcontinent. Most are found in the major urban areas of Nairobi and Mombasa, with others living in rural areas.

Of the 1,411,117 registered voters, 29,879 (2.18%) were Indian, 19,332 (1.37%) white and 5,472 (0.38%) Arabs. [3]

Results

Nine constituencies (with a total of 353,251 registered voters) were uncontested, reducing the number of actual voters to 1,057,866. [3]

PartyVotes%Seats
Kenya African National Union 590,66167.519
Kenya African Democratic Union 143,07916.311
Baluhya Political Union 28,8173.31
New Kenya Party 28,2843.24
Kenya Indian Congress 10,4881.23
Kenya Coalition 8,8911.03
Kenya Freedom Party 5,2630.62
Kenya National Congress4,5610.50
Shungwaya Freedom Party 3,7480.41
Coast People's Party1,6930.20
Tana River Pokomo Union6990.10
African independents13,9171.61
Arab independents5,7120.62
Asian Hindu independents4,6480.50
Asian Muslim independents11,8801.33
European independents12,7681.43
Appointed members12
Invalid/blank votes9,678
Total884,78710065
Registered voters/turnout1,057,86683.6
Source: Sternberger et al

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References

  1. Elections in Kenya African Election Database
  2. Robert M. Maxon & Thomas P. Ofcansky (2014) Historical Dictionary of Kenya, Rowman & Littlefield, p202
  3. 1 2 Dolf Sternberger, Bernhard Vogel, Dieter Nohlen & Klaus Landfried (1978) Die Wahl der Parlamente: Band II: Afrika, Erster Halbband, p972