The 2022 Kenyan elections

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With their upcom­ing pres­i­den­tial elec­tions lat­er this sum­mer, Kenyans con­tin­ue their col­lec­tive effort at strength­en­ing and deep­en­ing their democ­ra­cy. But the moment is also fraught. The August 9 vote is expect­ed to be the most tight­ly con­test­ed in Kenya’s recent his­to­ry, with polit­i­cal ten­sions ris­ing since Kenyan Pres­i­dent Uhu­ru Keny­at­ta shift­ed his sup­port from Deputy Pres­i­dent William Ruto to for­mer Prime Min­is­ter Raila Odinga.

Although much has changed since Kenya’s 2007 elec­tions, which result­ed in the deaths of more than 1,100 and the dis­place­ment of over 650,000 peo­ple, the risks of vio­lence and human rights vio­la­tions remain high. In 2007, mass vio­lence was trig­gered by the ques­tion­ing of results and the fair­ness of elec­toral insti­tu­tions and height­ened by eth­nic cleav­ages and elite polar­iza­tion. The 2013 and 2017 elec­tions that fol­lowed were com­par­a­tive­ly less vio­lent yet still marred by human rights vio­la­tions. Despite insti­tu­tion­al reforms over the past decades, the adop­tion of a new con­sti­tu­tion, and com­par­a­tive­ly low­er social ten­sions, Kenyans are acute­ly aware of the pos­si­bil­i­ty of pre- and post-elec­tion vio­lence. Yet, there is also hope that Kenya’s impend­ing tran­si­tion will unfold freely, fair­ly, and peacefully.

On June 29, Brook­ings will host an event to dis­cuss these and oth­er impor­tant issues relat­ed to the risks ahead and their impli­ca­tions for region­al sta­bil­i­ty. Brook­ings Senior Fel­low and Direc­tor of Research Michael E. O’Hanlon will mod­er­ate a con­ver­sa­tion between St. Lawrence Uni­ver­si­ty schol­ars Matthew Carotenu­to and Michael Wairungu.

View­ers can sub­mit ques­tions via email to events@brookings.edu or via Twit­ter at #Kenyan­Elec­tions.