General elections were held in Kenya on Tuesday, 9 August 2022. Voters elected the President, governors, senators, members of the National Assembly, and members of county assemblies.
This was the third general election and the fourth presidential one since the promulgation of the 2010 constitution. The incumbent president Uhuru Kenyatta was not eligible for a third term according to the Kenyan Constitution, nor were two-term county governors. The 2022 general election saw the lowest number of presidential candidates cleared since the multi-party system was implemented in 1992. All parliamentarians elected will sit in the 13th Parliament of Kenya.
William Ruto was elected President of Kenya with 50.5% of the vote, defeating Raila Odinga who received 48.85% of the vote.[6] On 22 August, Odinga filed a petition at the Kenyan Supreme court challenging the results announced by Wafula Chebukati, chairman of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) .[7] On 5 September, the Kenyan Supreme Court rejected the challenge and upheld Ruto's victory.[8] Observers had described the elections as largely peaceful and transparent.[9] Odinga said he would respect the court verdict, although he still claimed victory.[10]
Background
The Constitution of Kenya requires that a general election of members of parliament be held on the second Tuesday of August on every fifth year, which meant that the general election was scheduled for 9 August 2022. If Kenya is at war, the election can be delayed if a resolution is passed in each House of Parliament by at least two-thirds of all the members of the House. Such a resolution can delay the election by up to six months, and may be passed multiple times provided that the delays do not cumulatively exceed 12 months.[11]
The Constitution requires that a presidential election take place at the same time as the general election. In the unlikely event that prior to the next general election the position of president falls vacant and the office of deputy president is also vacant (who otherwise would assume the office of president), a presidential election could be held at an earlier date. According to the Constitution in such circumstances, an election needs to be held within sixty days after the vacancy arose in the office of President.
Incumbent president Uhuru Kenyatta was not eligible to pursue a third term due to the two-term limit in the Constitution of Kenya.[12] County governors who had served two terms at the helms of their respective counties were also ineligible for a third term.[13]
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.[14][15] If not, a second round is held between the top two candidates, in which the candidate with the most votes wins.[16][17]
The National Assembly has 350 members, of which 290 are elected in single-member constituencies by first-past-the-post voting. Of the remaining 60, 47 are reserved for women and are elected from single-member constituencies based on the 47 counties, also using the first-past-the-post system.[19] The remaining 13 seats include 12 nominated by political parties based on their number of seats and a Speaker, elected by the assembly from outside of it as an ex officio member. The nominated members are reserved for youths, Persons with Disability and workers.[20]
The 68 members of the Senate are elected by four methods; 47 are elected in single-member constituencies based on the counties by first-past-the-post voting. Parties are then assigned a share of 16 seats for women, two for youth and two for persons with Disability based on their seat share. A speaker is also elected as an ex official member.[21]
Presidential candidates
Only four presidential aspirants and their running mates from parties were cleared.[22]Walter Mong'are's nomination to run for presidency was revoked, after it emerged his degree was not from a recognized university as required by law.[23] The final list of presidential candidates was;
A new political dynamic based on class politics is emerging in Kenya,[28] which is being framed as hustlers versus dynasties.[29][30][31] The families of incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga have dominated Kenyan politics since independence in 1963. Moreover, Kenya has traditionally been ruled by presidents who belong to either the Kikuyu people – like Kenyatta – or the Kalenjin people, like incumbent vice-president William Ruto. The potential victory of Odinga, a Luo, would mark a departure for the country, which has 44 ethnic groups.[32]
Ruto initially fought alongside Odinga in 2007 Kenyan general election against the late Mwai Kibaki. The announcement of the presidential results led to ethnic clashes between the two major tribes in Kenya.[33] Police crackdowns on protesters and clashes that turned into ethnic attacks killed more than 1,000 people in post-election violence, eventually prompting a new constitution to devolve power. Ruto teamed up with Kenyatta in 2013. Both Kenyatta and Ruto had been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on crimes against humanity charges for their alleged role in orchestrating the post-election violence in 2007 Kenyan general election. The cases later collapsed, with former ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda saying a relentless campaign of victim and witness intimidation made the trial impossible.[34][35]
In March 2018, President Uhuru Kenyatta and his former rival for the Presidency, Raila Odinga, stunned the public when they shook hands and declared a truce after post-election violence in 2017 left dozens of people dead. The two leaders also sought to expand the executive through the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) constitutional changes that would have potentially allowed Kenyatta to stay in power as a prime minister. But despite Supreme Court of Kenya ruling against the proposed amendments in August, the unexpected alliance has persevered, with Odinga attending official government functions with Kenyatta.[36] Cracks within the Jubilee government began to appear, leading to an eventual fallout between the President and his deputy.[37][38]
Presidential nomination
In December 2021 the Mount Kenya Foundation, one of the country's most powerful and wealthy Kikuyu lobbies, announced their support for Odinga, while Kenyatta has repeatedly said that the next president will be "neither Kikuyu nor Kalenjin". On 10 December 2021, Odinga declared his intention to run for the presidency for the fifth time.[32]
In February 2022, Kenyatta's Jubilee party announced that it would join the Azimio la Umoja coalition headed by Raila Odinga, the party leader of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM).[40] On 12 March 2022, at least 26 political parties, including the major political parties Wiper, Jubilee, ODM and KANU, signed a co-operation pact, endorsing Raila Odinga's presidential candidature.[41] That same day, Kenyatta publicly endorsed Odinga for the presidency.[42]
On 15 March 2022, the UDA and Kenya Kwanza endorsed Ruto as their presidential candidate for August 2022 general elections.[43][44]
Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya Alliance Party was the first political outfit to launch their manifesto on 6 June 2022.[54] The ten point manifesto voiced key issues such as a corruption-free government.[55] The manifesto came as a form of declaration and promised to strengthen devolution, economically empower women, waste no single child, spur the economic pillar, facilitate climate-smart agriculture, revamp the manufacturing sector, enact responsible leadership, preserve sovereignty of the people, increase accessibility to clean water, and "Baba Care",[56] which would focus on social protection and transform, and upscaling Universal Health Coverage to Universal Health Care.[57][58]
Kenya Kwanza's UDA, and George Wajackoyah's Roots Parties launched their manifestos on 30 June 2022. UDA's William Ruto, who intends to apply the "Bottom-up economic model", presented a manifesto promising to revive the economy, provide healthcare for all, promote Micro, Small and Medium enterprises (MSME), implement two-thirds gender rule, and affordable housing, among others.[59][60]
Wajackoyah on the other hand intends to legalise marijuana for commercial purposes, introduce snake farming, export dog meat, shut and bring down the standard-gauge railway, hang the corrupt, suspend the constitution, introduce four-day work week, move capital city to Isiolo, create eight states, and repatriate idle foreigners.[61]
On 4 July 2022, Agano Party presidential candidate David Mwaure Waihiga launched his 12-point manifesto.[62] He argues that it is time for the country to move forward and start in a new slate in terms of leadership. He envisages his leadership to pledge alliance to the constitution; his pledge to family, women, youth, persons living with disability, county governments, workers, business owners, the economy, religious institutions, the environment, as well as a pledge to the international community.[63] He also promises to recover public monies stashed in offshore accounts as well as dissolve the Nairobi City County government.[64]
Electoral candidates debates
On 2 March 2022, the Media Council of Kenya (MCSK) in conjunction with Media Owners Association (MOA) and Kenya Editors' Guild (KEG) announced plans to conduct presidential debates in July 2022.[65] Clifford Machoka was appointed to organize the presidential and deputy presidential debates ahead of 9 August 2022 polls.[66] The debates were scheduled to run on of 11, 19, and 26 July 2022 at Catholic University of Eastern Africa; and they were to be broadcast live across most television and radio stations, and their online platforms.[67]Nairobi City County gubernatorial debate was also scheduled amongst the presidential and deputy presidential debates due to it being Kenya's capital.[68] Each of the debates ran in two sessions; the first session involved candidates who stood below 5% in the last three opinion polls, while the second session, were candidates with above 5% approval rating in last three opinion polls.[69]
On 11 July 2022, the first tier of the Nairobi gubernatorial debate took place and four of the seven candidates expected took the stage, namely: Nancy Mwadime of Usawa kwa Wote party, Herman Grewal of Safina Party, Kenneth Nyamwamu of United Progressive Alliance and Esther Thairu an independent candidate.[70] The second tier of the debate that aired on primetime, put former Nairobi deputy governor Polycarp Igathe against the capital's incumbent senator Sakaja Johnson, though the latter arrived 20 minutes late into the debate.[71] The deputy presidential debate that involved four candidates also aired in two sessions: Justina Wamae of Roots Party Kenya had a face off with Ruth Mucheru of Agano Party.[72]Azimio's Martha Karua and Rigathi Gachagua of UDA, dueled in the second tier.[73] An estimated 34 million Kenyans tuned in for deputy presidential debate; an estimated 18.7 million of them who followed the debate were registered voters; 70% watched the second tier while 5% sat through the first.[74] The hallmark of the three debates, the presidential debate, was the final one, and it was to have Waihiga Mwaure go head on with George Wajackoyah first, while Raila Odinga and William Ruto face off in the second tier.[75] However, Odinga and Wajackoyah dropped from the presidential debate.[76][77] Odinga argued that he could not debate with Ruto, whom he accuses of having questionable integrity.[78] Wajackoyah's demand to debate with the two main presidential candidates was not met; though he made his way to the debating venue before storming off.[78][79] Mwaure and Ruto were featured alone in their respective sessions.[80][81] In addition to joint presidential debates, individual television stations aired gubernatorial debates from other counties, and a constituency debate.[82]
Campaign season
"Vote-rich counties" or counties with over 500,000 registered voters.
The campaign season officially kicked off on 29 May 2022 as clearance of electoral candidates continued.[83] Although the presidential race was considered a two-horse, with two main opponents, Raila Odinga and William Ruto, George Wajackoyah of Roots Party Kenya gained significant popularity among the electorate, due to his radical measures to quell the ballooning public debt.[84][85]Kenya Kwanza alliance led by Ruto held true to their initial campaign strategy by self proclaiming themselves as 'hustlers', calling Odinga a dynasty and a 'project' of the outgoing government.[86] Odinga of Azimio–One Kenya Alliance branded Kenya Kwanza as an alliance of the corrupt since most of the leaders in the coalition are suspected, accused, or convicted of corruption and other integrity issues.[87] Odinga billed himself and his running mate Martha Karua as liberators, who fought for multiparty system; campaigned for the new regime in 2002; were proponents of 2010 constitutional dispensation.[88][89] On 28 July 2022, Ruto's presidential running mate, Rigathi Gachagua, was ordered by the Anti-corruption court to forfeit Ksh202 million to the state after it was determined the funds were proceeds of corruption.[90]
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) announced to roll out the first phase of a 30-day mass voter registration exercise beginning 4 October 2021. The exercise was targeting between 6 and 7 million new voters.[96] However, with the homestretch of the registration of voters approaching, the commission raised concern over its failure to reach its target.[97] On 17 January 2022, the three-week second phase of the mass voter listing targeting 4.5 million voters kicked off registering low turnout as well.[98][99] In May 2022, the commission suspended voter registration to March 2023, attributing the move to the auditing and verification processes that may alter with the timelines set ahead of the elections.[100]
Electoral candidates clearance
IEBC registered all aspirants expected to run for the various elective seats between 29 May and 7 June 2022.[101]William Ruto and Raila Odinga were cleared on 4 and 5 June respectively, in an event that would see them present their nomination papers.[102]
In June 2022, reports began to emerge that Sakaja Johnson presented a fake certificate to IEBC from a Ugandan university; that he never graduated from the University of Nairobi (UoN).[103] Initially, Sakaja had stated in interviews that he was an alumnus of UoN, where he purportedly pursued a bachelor's degree in Actuarial Science.[103] It would later emerge, Sakaja was yet to complete his studies at UoN since his enrolment in 2003.[103] He admitted in a radio interview that he did not graduate from the city's university, blaming president Uhuru Kenyatta of plotting to destroy his political ambitions.[104][105] At the time of clearance, he had presented a Bachelor of Science in Management certificate from Uganda's Team University, where he alleged he was an external student. On 29 June 2022, the Commission for University Education revoked his degree, pending investigations.[106] The IEBC declined to revoke Sakaja's clearance, stating it can only disqualify the UDA candidate if issued with a court order.[107] Uganda's Inspector General ordered a probe into the legislator's degree saga.[108] On 12 July 2022, the High Court dismissed petition over Sakaja's degree, faulting the petitioner, Dennis Gakuu Wahome, for failing to discharge the burden of proof that the gubernatorial candidate degree certificate was fake.[109]
Former Nairobi governor Mike Sonko was however denied clearance to run for Mombasa governorship following his impeachment in 2020.[110] Sonko filed a petition at the High Court to have it compel IEBC to clear him for the gubernatorial race.[111] On 13 July 2022, the court noted in its ruling, that Sonko's impeachment case was yet to be determined by the Supreme Court, and ordered the electoral commission to clear Sonko to vie for the Mombasa governorship.[112] On 14 July 2022, Sonko presented his nomination papers at IEBC where he was cleared to vie for Mombasa governor.[113] On 15 July 2022, the Supreme Court ruled that Sonko was duly impeached by the county assembly of Nairobi City, which automatically makes Sonko fail the integrity test to occupy any elective seat or be appointed.[112][114] Following the apex's court decision, IEBC subsequently revoked his clearance.[115]
IEBC preparation for general election
By the end of clearance, Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) gazetted a total of 16,098 candidates contesting 1,882 elective slots.[116] IEBC received first batch of ballot papers on 7 July 2022.[116][117] The ballot papers were printed by a Greek firm known as Inform P Lykos, situated in Athens, which was awarded the tender worth Ksh 3 billion.[118]The Kenya Integrated Election Management System (KIEMS) will be used as the primary mode of voter verification, while the manual register used as a supplementary when these KIEMS kits fail.[119] This led to a vast discussion across the political spectrum on the possibility of KIEMS are subject to manipulation, then a manual register was important; noting that Smartmatic International, the supplier of the digital register is not short of controversy.[120]
On 21 July 2022, three Venezuelan nationals were intercepted at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) with what was believed to be sensitive election materials.[121] IEBC released a statement on their social media platform decrying the detention of Smartmatic International staff.[121] The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) boss George Kinoti released an official statement claiming the two Venezuelan nationals traveled with expired passports, were in possession of 'questionable' material and were on a business trip.[122][123] Among them, the foreigners had stickers that were to be used in election.[124] IEBC explained that the stickers had information on the polling station, polling centre, ward, constituency and county.[125] On 28 July 2022, following their public spat, DCI and IEBC ended their row, amicably agreeing that the issue with the stickers had been solved.[126]
General elections
On 8 August 2022, IEBC suspended the gubernatorial election in Kakamega and Mombasa counties, as well as the parliamentary polls for Pokot South, Rongai and Kacheliba constituencies.[127][128] Chebukati noted that the ballot papers for affected areas had errors, including pictures for candidates and details.[129] Apart from the mentioned counties and constituencies, IEBC also suspended elections in five wards over candidates' deaths.[130] Voters in the affected areas voted on 23 August 2022.[1]
The voting exercise was greatly affected by the failure of the Kenya Integrated Elections Management Systems (KIEMS) kits to pick voters' fingerprints.[133] IEBC allowed the use of manual register in parts of Kakamega and Makueni counties after a blight of hitches from the KIEMS kits.[134] Some polling stations opened later than the stipulated time of 6 am, leading to delayed voting.[135]
By midday of election day, 6,567,859, constituting to 30% of registered voters had cast their ballots.[136] An hour to closure of polling centers at 5 pm, the electoral commission reported a voter turnout of 12,065,803 equating to 56.17% of registered voters.[137][138] On 10 August 2022, IEBC announced 14 million Kenyans, who were identified electronically, had voted bringing the total percentage to 65.4%.[139][140]
Member of Parliament for Kimilili ConstituencyDidmus Barasa had been accused of shooting dead his rival's security guard and fleeing the scene following the event.[141]
Observers had described the elections as largely peaceful and transparent.[9]
Opinion polls
This table below lists polls completed since the announcement of Raila Odinga on 10 December 2021 that he would be contesting the Presidency of the Republic.
The results had been scheduled to be announced at 3pm on 15 August 2022,[142] however, by 5pm no announcement had been made at that point. Four IEBC commissioners, led by the vice chair Juliana Cherera, held a press conference stating that they do not "take ownership" of the results, citing issues with the final tallying process.[143] The results were announced at 6pm by the IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati. All the candidates except Raila Odinga appeared at the announcement; Odinga's chief agent Saitabao Ole Kanchory announced that Odinga would not appear until his campaign team could verify the results.[144] As Chebukati and other two commissioners made their way into the Bomas of Kenya auditorium, violence erupted in the venue and the IEBC staff were escorted away.[145] After security personnel resolved the situation, Chebukati made his way to the auditorium and announced the results, naming William Ruto as the president-elect.[146]
The following day, 16 August, the dissident IEBC commissioners gave a more detailed explanation of the division within the commission.[147] The vice chair Cherera, Francis Wanderi, Irene Masit, and Justus Nyang’aya, stated that the total percentage exceeded 100%; the results were not processed and analysed by all the commissioners; Chebukati did not provide the total numbers of registered voters, votes cast, or rejected ballots; accused Chebukati of announcing results prematurely, before votes from some counties had been incorporated;[148] and accused Chebukati of exceeding his legal role.[149] This was disputed by the Elections Observations Group, a Kenyan NGO, who stated "The commission's verification process was credible and every critical player was involved with that process – from observers, political party agents, media, body officials ... The commission made data publicly available".[150] Chebukati also defended his announcement by stating that the 100.01% result was attributable to a rounding error,[151] and accused the four dissenting commissioners of trying to force a re-run of the election.[152]
Odinga rejected the outcome of the presidential election and announced he would begin a legal challenge.[153] He termed the election a "travesty", "unconstitutional", and "null and void".[154][155] Odinga also asked for his supporters to refrain from violence.[146] On 22 August, Odinga filed a court challenge to the result.[7] Odinga claimed the election results were based on criminal and fraudulent activities, his party agents were barred access to several election sites, technology was used for fraud, and the fraud was preplanned. Several others filed complaints too e.g. claiming that the results were not included in the tallying and verification of the IEBC chairman from 28 constituencies with at least 8% of the votes. [156] On 5 September, Kenya's Supreme Court rejected the petitions and upheld Ruto's victory.[157][158] Observers had described the elections as largely peaceful and transparent.[9] Odinga said he would respect the court verdict, although he still claimed victory.[10]
^Counties Kakamega and Mombasa gubernatorial election pushed to 23 August 2022. Three constituencies, and two wards to hold parliamentary and ward polls on the same day. Eldas Constituency held their elections on 10 August 2022[1]Wafula Chebukati suspended the election again due to safety concerns of the IEBC staff. The mini-polls were conducted on 29 August 2022 in the affected areas.[2]
^Odinga is gazetted to run for president under Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition Party. He still remains the leader of ODM.[4][5]
^There is agreement in the international community that the presidential elections were at least partially manipulated.[25] In July 2008, an exit poll commissioned by the US was released, suggested that Odinga was predicted to have won the presidency by a comfortable margin of 6%, 46% to 40%, well outside the exit poll's 1.3% margin of error.[26]
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