Kenya's Past as Prologue

Voters, Violence and the 2013 General Election

Christian Thibon, Marie-Aude Fouéré, Mildred Ndeda, Suzan Mwangi

• Publisher: Africae
• Year: 2020
• eBook ISBN: 9782957305834
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: African Politics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

During the run-up to Kenya's 2013 general elections, crucial political and civic questions were raised. Could past mistakes, especially political and ethnic-related violence, be avoided this time round? Would the spectre of the 2007 post-electoral violence positively or negatively affect debates and voting? How would politicians, electoral bodies such as the IEBC, the Kenyan civil society, and the international community weigh in on the elections? More generally, would the 2013 elections bear witness to the building up of an electoral culture in Kenya, characterized by free and fair elections, or would it show that voting is still weakened by political malpractices, partisan opinions and emotional reactions? Would Kenya's past be inescapable or would it prepare the scene for a new political order? Kenya's Past as Prologue adopts a multidisciplinary perspective - mainly built upon field-based ethnography and a selection of case studies - to answer these questions. Under the leadership of the French Institute for Research in Africa (Institut français de recherche en Afrique, IFRA), political scientists, historians and anthropologists explore various aspects of the electoral process to contribute in-depth analyses of the last elections. They highlight the structural factors underlying election and voting in Kenya including the political system, culture and political transition. They also interrogate the short-term trends and issues that influence the new political order. The book provides insight into specific case studies, situations and contexts, thus bringing nuances and diversity into focus to better assess Kenya's evolving electoral democracy.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Bibliographic informations
• First pages
• Table of contents
• Foreword
• Acknowledgment
• Introduction
• Kenyan Elections: When Does History Repeat Itself and Does Not Repeat Itself?
• Kenyan Elections: The ICC, God and the 2013 Kenyan General Elections
• The 4 March 2013 General. Elections in Kenya: From Latent Tension to Contained Violence
• Getting it ‘Wrong’ (Again)?
• Political Integration of Minority Communities: The Ogiek of Eastern Mau Forest in the 2013 Elections
• Bishop Margaret Wanjiru and the 2013 Kenyan Elections: Between Politics of the Spirit and Expanding Entrepreneurship
• Role of Election Observers: Diplomatic Bias and the Findings of The Kenyan 2013 Election
• Negotiating History for Negotiated Democracy in 2013 election: A Case Study of Kisii County, Kenya
• Twitting Votes: The Middle Class and the 2013 Elections in Kenya
• The Quest for New Political Leadership in the South Rift, Kenya
• Kikuyu-Kalenjin Relations in IDP Camps and the 2013 Elections: An Invitation to ‘The’ Conversation
• An Evaluation of Political Mobilization Strategies Employed by Vigilante Groups in Kisii County during the 2013 Kenyan Elections
• New Constitution, Odingaism and the State of Internal Democracy in Orange Democratic Movement and its Effects on the 2013 Elections in Kenya
• Luo Women Voters/Aspirants and the New Constitutional Dispensation in the March 2013 Kenya Elections: The case of Siaya and Kisumu Counties
• The Election Commission and the Supreme Court: Two new institutions put to the test by elections
• “The Grassroots Are Very Complicated”: Marginalization and the Emergence of Alternative Authority in the Kenyan Coast 2013 Elections