General elections were held in Kenya on 8 August 2017 to elect the President, members of the National Assembly and Senate. They coincided with the 2017 Kenyan local elections which elected Governors and representatives in the devolved governments.
The published results showed that incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta of the Jubilee Party had been re-elected with 54% of the vote. However, his main opponent, Raila Odinga of the Orange Democratic Movement, refused to accept the results and contested them in the Supreme Court. The results of the presidential election were subsequently annulled by the court and fresh presidential elections was ordered to be held within 60 days. It was later announced that the elections would be held in October.
The results of the parliamentary and local elections remained valid. The Jubilee Party retained its majority in the Senate, winning 34 of the 67 seats, and remained the largest party in the National Assembly with 171 of the 341 seats. The Orange Democratic Movement won 20 seats in the Senate and 76 in the National Assembly.
Background
The Kenyan Constitution requires a general election on the second Tuesday in August in every fifth year. There have been public discussions to move the date from August to December with proponents pointing to the fiscal timeline (1 July – 30 June) clashing with an August date, because most ministries that support critical election processes will not have been fully funded and that a possible presidential runoff vote may interfere with the national examinations calendar of October and December.
Opponents of the proposed date change have argued for protecting the constitutional provision and that any change would be mired by legal challenges and might drag on to the next elections and still require a referendum to decide, putting the country's stability at risk.
On 7 August 2017, one day before the election, Barack Obama, who served as the 44th President of the United States from 2009 to 2017 and whose father, Barack Obama Sr., was Kenyan, called for calm and acceptance of the election results.
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 and at least 25% of the vote in a minimum of 24 of the 47 counties.
The 337 members of the National Assembly are elected by two methods; 290 are elected in single-member constituencies by first-past-the-post voting. The remaining 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. The 67 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 disabled people based on their seat share.
Party primaries
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission set the duration for political parties to conduct their primaries in April 2017 following the review of Kenya's Election Laws. Parties would have 14 days between 20 April and 2 May to conduct their primaries and submit their candidates to the electoral commission.
Conduct
William Ruto home siege
On 29 July 2017, Deputy President William Ruto's house was attacked by a local man armed with a machete. During the siege, the deputy president and his family were not present. The assailant first injured the guard on duty, held him hostage and then killed him. The siege lasted 18 hours before special forces of the Kenyan Police shot the attacker dead. The motives of the attacker were unknown and members of the public were unaware how a man armed with a machete held the elite police forces at bay for 18 hours.
Msando murder
On 27 July 2017, two bodies were found on the outskirts of Nairobi. One of the dead, Christopher Msando, was the head of information, communication, and technology at the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission. He played a major role in developing the new voting system for the election. His body showed apparent marks of torture before he was murdered for unclear reasons. Alongside it was the body of a 21-year-old woman, Maryanne Ngumbu. The FBI and Scotland Yard offered to help in the investigation.
The murder of Msando raised suspicion among the opposition that it was part of a plot by the ruling party to rig the election, as it appeared Msando was standing in the way.