Kenyan presidential election, October 2017

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Kenyan presidential election, October 2017
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←  August 2017 26 October 20172022 →
19,611,423 registered voters [1]
50% + 1 vote (nationally) and 25% in each of at least 24 counties votes needed to win

  Uhuru Kenyatta.jpg Raila Odinga 2009 (cropped).jpg
Nominee Uhuru Kenyatta Raila Odinga
Party Jubilee ODM
Alliance Jubilee Alliance NASA
Running mate William Ruto Kalonzo Musyoka
Popular vote7,483,89573,228
Percentage98.3%1.0%
President before election

Uhuru Kenyatta
Jubilee

Elected President

Uhuru Kenyatta
Jubilee

Kenya
Coat of arms of Kenya (Official).svg
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
Kenya
Foreign relations

Fresh Presidential elections were held in Kenya on 26 October 2017 following the Supreme Court's annulment of the results of the presidential vote in the August 2017 general elections. [2] [3]

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.

Supreme Court of Kenya

The Supreme Court of Kenya is the highest court in Kenya. It is established under Article 163 of the Kenyan Constitution. As the highest court in the nation, its decisions are binding and set precedent on all other courts in the country.

Contents

Background

General elections were held in Kenya on 8 August 2017. Incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta was declared the winner of the presidential contest with 54.17% of the vote, whilst his main rival Raila Odinga finished second with 44.94% of the vote. The opposition claimed that it had won and that the government had rigged the elections. The opposition appealed to the Supreme Court. Citing a breach of the technical processes required by the constitution and the law, the court returned a verdict (by a margin of 4–2) that the election had not been "conducted in accordance with the constitution", cancelling the results and ordering fresh elections to be held within 60 days. [2] In a television address Kenyatta complained that the decision was tantamount to overturning the "will of the people" He nevertheless stated that though he disagreed with the Supreme Court's decision, he would obey that decision. Raila Odinga on the other hand welcomed the court's verdict, saying "This indeed is a very historic day for the people of Kenya and by extension the people of the continent of Africa." [4]

Uhuru Kenyatta President of Kenya

Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta is a Kenyan politician and businessman who is the fourth and current President of the Republic of Kenya. He served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Gatundu South from 2002 to 2013. Currently the party leader and a member of the Jubilee Party of Kenya, he was previously involved with The National Alliance and before that the Kenya African National Union.

Raila Odinga Prime Minister of Kenya 2008–2013

Raila Amolo Odinga is a Kenyan politician who served as Prime Minister of Kenya from 2008 to 2013, and has served as Leader of the Opposition since 2013. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Langata from 1992 to 2013. He served in the Cabinet of Kenya as Minister of Energy from 2001 to 2002, and as Minister of Roads, Public Works and Housing from 2003 to 2005. Odinga was appointed High Representative for Infrastructure Development at the African Union Commission in 2018.

Electoral system

The President of Kenya is elected using a modified version of the two-round system: to win in the first round, a candidate must receive over 50% of the vote nationally and 25% of the vote in at least 24 of Kenya's 47 counties. [5] [6]

President of Kenya head of state and head of government of Kenya

The President of the Republic of Kenya is the head of state and head of government of Kenya. The president leads the executive branch of the Government of Kenya and is the commander-in-chief of the Kenya Defence Forces. The official residence of the president is at State House, Nairobi. The wife of the President is referred to as the First Lady of Kenya.

Two-round system voting system used to elect a single winner where a second round of voting is used if no candidate wins an absolute majority in the first round

The two-round system is a voting method used to elect a single winner, where the voter casts a single vote for their chosen candidate. However, if no candidate receives the required number of votes, then those candidates having less than a certain proportion of the votes, or all but the two candidates receiving the most votes, are eliminated, and a second round of voting is held.

Candidates

In early October Odinga announced that he was withdrawing from the election. [7] Following his withdrawal from the presidential race, there has been heated debate among lawyers as to the legality of IEBC continuing with the elections. Proponents of the elections argue that the court ruled a repeat election to be conducted within 60 days and this must happen no matter what the main opposition decides to do. Additionally, they argue that it was not possible to reform the IEBC as he was demanding due to constitutional limitations. Moreover, pulling out of the race required him to fill out a form 22a, which he refused to do, saying that it was an unnecessary formality. This means that he intentionally wanted to remain ambiguous and hence had not officially withdrawn. As such, his name would be in the ballot papers. On the opposite end, opponents of the elections argue that the cancellation of one nominee means that there can no-longer be an election as provided for in the Kenyan constitution following the 2013 Supreme Court ruling that such an event necessitated cancellation of an election. Additionally, they argue that as this is not a fresh election but a repeat election, there is no need for any candidate withdrawing to do so by filling any form. This means that Raila's withdrawal through a letter was enough to prove that he is out of the race. Earlier the Third Way Alliance presidential candidate had appealed against the IEBC decision to exclude him from the vote citing breach of the law. As it turned out, the court of appeal ruled that the IEBC decision to exclude the candidate had no basis in law since the October 26 election was a fresh election. In fact the court ruled that all presidential candidates in the October 26 election were free to contest as presidential candidates in the October 26, 2017, Fresh Presidential election

On 18 October, recently resigned IEBC Commissioner Roselyn Akombe issued a statement declaring that the second presidential election wouldn't be a fair election. [8] Akombe also fled to the United States of America out of fear for her life. [9]

On 18 October, IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati expressed skepticism about a fair election as well, claiming the IEBC commissioners were partisan-minded and that he would resign unless certain conditions are met to reform the IEBC. [10] [11]

On 20 October, the IEBC's chief executive officer Ezra Chiloba announced that he will not be monitoring the election and that starting 23 October, he will take a three-week vacation. [12] Chiloba's departure has created more uncertainty over who will monitor the election. [13]

On 24 October, the IEBC announced that it would now count back-up paper ballots and not rush to announce the official results based only on numbers sent from the polling stations like in the first presidential election as well. [14] The same day, Chebukati appointed IEBC Vice Chair Consolata N.B. Maina as the IEBC Deputy National Returning Officer. [15]

Possible election violence

Various sources have reported that Kenya could go into massive violence if Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga fail to sit down and have a concrete dialog before 26 October 2017. This is because many parts of Kenya, including Kisumu City, Mombasa City, Nairobi City, Homa Bay Country, Siaya County, Migori County and others, have experienced anti IEBC protests for more than four weeks. These protests have been marked by police brutality, as the police have been reported to use live bullets on protesters.

Results

On 30 October the IEBC declared Kenyatta the winner of the elections. [16] Voter turnout was at 38.84%. [17]

CandidatePartyVotes%
Uhuru Kenyatta Jubilee Party of Kenya 7,483,89598.26
Raila Odinga National Super Alliance 73,2280.96
Ekuru Aukot Thirdway Alliance Kenya21,3330.28
Abduba Dida Alliance for Real Change14,1070.19
Japheth Kaluyu Independent 8,2610.11
Michael Wainaina Independent 6,0070.08
Joseph Nyagah Independent 5,5540.07
Cyrus Jirongo United Democratic Party3,8320.05
Invalid/blank votes37,713
Total7,616,217100
Registered voters/turnout38.84
Source: IEBC [18]

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William Ruto A Kenyan politician who has been Deputy President of Kenya since 2013

William Kipchirchir Samoei Arap Ruto is a Kenyan politician who has been Deputy President of Kenya since 2013. He served as the Acting President of Kenya between 5 and 8 October 2014 while President Uhuru Kenyatta was away at the Hague.He previously served in various ministerial positions including the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Higher Education Science and Technology. He was Secretary General of KANU, the former ruling political party, and MP for Eldoret North Constituency between December 1997 and January 2013. He won the seat in the 1997 Kenyan election after defeating Reuben Chesire. He was appointed to the position of Assistant Minister in the Office of the President by President Daniel arap Moi in 1998. He was promoted to be Minister for Home Affairs in August 2002. He also previously served as the Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Constitutional Reform in the 9th Parliament.

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Wiper Democratic Movement – Kenya

The Wiper Democratic Movement–Kenya (WDM-K) refers to a political party in Kenya, which originated as a result of the 2005 Kenyan constitutional referendum. It grew out of the Orange Democratic Movement Party of Kenya (ODM). It is headed by Kalonzo Musyoka, who ran for president in 2007 and served as the vice-president in the Grand Coalition of Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga. It is now a member of the main opposition NASA.

2013 Kenyan general election

General elections were held in Kenya on 4 March 2013. Voters elected the President, members of the National Assembly and new Senate, as well as County Governors and Representatives. They were the first elections held under the new constitution, which was approved in a 2010 referendum, and were also the first run by the new Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) is an independent regulatory agency that was founded in 2011 by the Constitution of Kenya. The Commission is responsible for conducting or supervising referendum and elections to any elective body or office established by the Constitution, and any other elections as prescribed by an Act of Parliament. It was created in a provision of the 2010 constitution and the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Act. Its mandate includes; "the continuous registration of voters and revision of the voter’s roll, the delimitation of constituencies and wards, the regulation of political parties process, the settlement of electoral disputes, the registration of candidates for elections, voter education, the facilitation of the observation, monitoring and evaluation of elections,the regulation of money spent by a candidate or party in respect of any election, the development of a code of conduct for candidates and parties, the monitoring of compliance with legislation on nomination of candidates by parties."

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Jubilee Party Nationalist political party in Kenya

The Jubilee Party of Kenya is the ruling political party that was formed after the merger of 11 political parties, to become one of the major political parties in Kenya. The ceremony announcing the merge was held at the Safaricom Kasarani Stadium on 8th September 2016. The formation of the party was the result of an alliance by the principal members of the Jubilee Alliance party, as well as 10 other political parties. These parties were:

  1. Jubilee Alliance Party (JAP)
  2. Alliance Party of Kenya (APK)
  3. United Republican Party (URP)
  4. Grand National Union (GNU)
  5. New FORD–Kenya (NFK)
  6. FORD People (FP)
  7. United Democratic Forum (UDF)
  8. Chama Cha Uzalendo (CCU)
  9. Republican Congress (RC)
  10. The National Alliance (TNA)
  11. The Independence Party (TIP)

Tom R was the main opposition candidate in the 2007 presidential election, running against incumbent Mwai Kibaki. [3] In the subsequent presidential election 5 years later he placed second against Uhuru Kenyatta, garnering 5,340,546 votes, which represented 43.28% of the total votes cast.[4] He made another run for the presidency in August 2017 against Uhuru Kenyatta and lost [5] after the chairman of the electoral body declared Uhuru Kenyatta as the winner with 54% of the votes cast to Raila's 43%.[6] This outcome was eventually annulled by the Supreme Court following findings that the election was marred by "illegalities and irregularities". A subsequent fresh election ordered by the Court was won by Uhuru Kenyatta when Raila declined to participate citing inadequate reforms to enable a fair process in the repeat poll.

Roselyn Kwamboka Akombe is a Kenyan former commissioner of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) of Kenya.

References

  1. ↑ Statistics per polling station IEBC
  2. 1 2 Kenya presidential election cancelled by Supreme Court BBC News, 1 September 2017
  3. ↑ Kenyans go back to the ballot October 17 Daily Nation, 4 September 2017
  4. ↑ Kenya Supreme Court nullifies presidential election, orders new vote CNN, 1 September 2017
  5. ↑ Presidential Candidates Kenya Diaspora Vote
  6. ↑ Article 138 (4) Constitution of Kenya 2010
  7. ↑ Kenya: Raila Odinga withdraws from election rerun The Guardian, 10 October 2017
  8. ↑ http://www.nation.co.ke/news/Roslyn-Akombe-quits-The-full-statement-/1056-4144484-eja12hz/index.html
  9. ↑ http://www.latimes.com/world/africa/la-fg-kenya-election-threats-20171018-story.html
  10. ↑ https://www.tuko.co.ke/255062-chebukati-admits-frustrations-iebc-expresses-doubts-fairness-election-emotio.html#255062
  11. ↑ https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001257758/wafula-chebukati-sets-conditions-for-him-to-remain-as-iebc-chair
  12. ↑ http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/20/africa/kenya-election-commission-official/index.html
  13. ↑ https://www.reuters.com/article/us-kenya-election/eyes-on-odinga-as-kenya-election-board-ceo-takes-leave-before-vote-idUSKBN1CP0FP
  14. ↑ https://www.reuters.com/article/us-kenya-election-result/kenya-officials-change-way-of-announcing-election-results-idUSKBN1CT2EP?il=0
  15. ↑ https://www.kenyans.co.ke/news/23993-wafula-chebukati-makes-new-appointment-iebc-teamhttps://www.kenyans.co.ke/news/23993-wafula-chebukati-makes-new-appointment-iebc-team
  16. ↑ https://www.reuters.com/article/us-kenya-election-kenyatta/kenya-president-kenyatta-wins-98-percent-of-vote-in-repeat-election-commission-idUSKBN1CZ1SE
  17. ↑ http://www.nation.co.ke/news/politics/Uhuru-winner-of-repeat-poll/1064-4162124-athns6/index.html
  18. ↑ "IEBC" (PDF). iebc.or.ke. 30 October 2017. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
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