Barbara Yoxon | University of York
Kenya’s transition to a multiparty democracy in 1991 was one of the most promising cases of political change in Africa. Before then, the Kenya National Union Party (KANU) had monopolised power since outlawing political opposition in 1982. The transition from a single to a multiparty state was a truly significant event.
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KANU faced its first real challenge since independence in multiparty presidential elections held in 1992. But the party didn’t lose its grip on power until president Daniel arap Moi lost to opposition leader Mwai Kibaki in the 2002 elections. The next presidential elections of 2007 were marked by political violence in which more than 1,500 people were killed following claims that the two major candidates had manipulated the results.
Despite this history of political instability, the country’s new democratic direction was seemingly confirmed when the Kenyan Supreme Court overturned the results of the August 8, 2017 elections. In a historic ruling for Africa, it called for the presidential election to be repeated.
Initially many praised the court for upholding democracy. But weeks later the same court upheld Kenyatta’s second victory. A spokesman for the opposition coalition speculated that members of the Supreme Court were intimidated.
The turn of events in favour of President Kenyatta is not surprising. It suggests that the process of free elections was never intended to help the country democratise. This mirrors events in other seemingly transitioning countries such as Zimbabwe or Senegal.
What is more, the process of opening up the political system could – in and of itself – never have been expected to deliver democracy. This was the case in Ukraine, where shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union elections were expected to bring about a process of democratisation similar to Poland’s in 1989. But democracy never arrived in the Ukraine. Instead it plunged deeper into authoritarianism.
In Kenya’s case, elections have been used to bolster the legitimacy of an autocratic regime. While Kenya holds free and regular elections, political elites regularly intimidate political opposition as well as journalists and the judiciary. This effectively skews the results of each election in favour of the government.
<h2>Democracy is about more than elections</h2>
Recent research on transitioning countries looks at how they have held regular multiparty elections at the national level, yet violated democratic minimum standards.
The research suggests that since the end of the Cold War countries like Kenya, Turkey, the Ukraine and Zimbabwe have turned into the most common form of nondemocratic rule in the world. As multiparty states they have combined elements of both democracy and autocracy. Their rulers have learnt to use free multiparty elections in their favour.
Kenya’s story is a reminder that authoritarian regimes &#8211; even those that look like democracies &#8211; are unlikely to go away anytime soon.
Definitions of democracy vary. But most scholars agree that to complete their transitions countries, including Kenya, would have to meet a number of criteria. These include free, fair, and competitive elections, full adult suffrage, freedom of the press, speech and association, and an executive free from external influence.
The last point indicates that no military, religious or civilian organisation in the country can override the decisions of a fairly elected executive.
<h2>Kenya’s democracy scorecard</h2>
While Kenya certainly meets many of the criteria it struggles to meet two in particular.
The first is fair elections. The country has held regular free elections since 1991 and it allows a number of political parties to take part. But the elections can’t be described as having been fair.
A recent Amnesty International report has condemned Kenya for routinely targeting political opposition in an effort to dissuade them from challenging the government. This includes arbitrary arrests and even killings by the police in the 2017 elections. This uneven playing field can result in unfair elections.
The second criteria that Kenya fails on is freedom of the press, speech and association. For a country to be democratic it should allow basic political freedoms for its citizens and institutions. This has not been the case in Kenya. For example, the International Federation of Journalists recently reported that journalists were routinely harassed and intimidated by the police and political party supporters in the 2017 elections.
Similarly, the bodyguard of one of the judges was shot a day before the court’s scheduled ruling on a motion to delay the repeat vote.
As a result of these serious shortcomings, Kenya cannot be viewed as a democracy. The playing field remains uneven despite major constitutional changes to guarantee an independent judiciary and to establish a separation of powers in the government.
<h2>The problem with elections</h2>
There have been clear examples – Poland in 1989 and South Africa in 1994 – of where elections helped many countries successfully transition. But elections, even free and competitive, don’t always mean that the country is more democratic. There have been instances when they have been used to help ruling politicians stay in power as happened in Ukraine, Turkey and Singapore.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/88341/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />Kenya’s ruling elite too has learnt to use elections to its advantage. Instead of weakening the elite’s grip on power, the elections might actually make them stronger. Given this situation, and recent events, it’s unclear whether Kenya will ever complete its transition to democracy.
This article was originally published on The Conversation.

Op-Ed: Why elections don’t always equal democracy: the case of Kenya

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Seven candidates are vying for the governorship role in Nigeria&#8217;s Anambra State tomorrow. Jideofor Adibe, founding Editor of African Renaissance joins CNBC Africa to discuss what to expect ahead of tomorrow&#8217;s elections.

All set for Anambra elections

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Ahead of Nigeria&#8217;s 2019 elections, United Nations says the process will be largely free of violence. But as the political actors take position, Manji Cheto, Vice President of Teneo Intelligence joins CNBC Africa to analyse some possible risk themes.

Ahead of Nigeria’s 2019 elections: Expert predicts what will happen

NAIROBI (Reuters) &#8211; Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta snubbed a crisis meeting called by the top election official for Thursday, saying he would instead spend the time campaigning for next week’s presidential vote re-run.
Kenya&#8217;s President Uhuru Kenyatta addresses leaders from pastoralist communities at State House in Nairobi, Kenya September 21, 2017. Presidential Press Service/Handout via 
The first presidential vote in August, which Kenyatta won by 1.4 million votes, was annulled by the Supreme Court over procedural irregularities.
READ: <a href="http://cnbc.africa/news/east-africa/2017/10/18/kenyan-election-official-flees-country-ahead-presidential-poll/">Kenyan election official flees country ahead of presidential poll</a>
The re-run is set for Oct. 26 but opposition leader Raila Odinga has pulled out, alleging a failure to improve oversight of the election, casting doubt on how the vote will proceed.
Election board chairman Wafula Chebukati, in a stark message to political leaders on Wednesday, said he could not guarantee a credible vote under present conditions, and demanded Kenyatta and Odinga meet him for talks.
The board, known as the IEBC, set the meeting for 1130 GMT in Nairobi but then said it had been postponed to an unspecified date and time. Chebukati later tweeted that he had met Odinga and was “looking forward” to meeting Kenyatta, though it was not clear if the president intended to respond to his call.
Opposition demonstrations, which have led to confrontations between police and protesters, and divisive rhetoric by politicians have stoked uncertainty in Kenya, East Africa’s largest economy and a stable Western ally in a chaotic region.
Speaking at a campaign rally in the western town of Saboti late on Wednesday, Kenyatta said the priority was for Kenyans to go to the polls on the set date.
“We are not interested in telling the IEBC what to do. We want them to prepare so Kenyans can vote on the 26th,” he said.
However, Odinga, whose call for mass protests on election day has sparked fears that the crisis could turn violent, called for serious talks on the impasse after meeting Chebukati.
STALEMATE
Odinga said his withdrawal should force the commission to start a fresh 90-day electoral cycle, including fresh candidate nominations. The election board says the vote will go ahead.
Chebukati’s call for a meeting with the candidates followed the flight of one IEBC commissioner to New York. Roselyn Akombe said she had fled due to threats and said the planned election would amount to a mockery of democracy.
The ruling Jubilee party filed a petition in the Supreme Court on Thursday alleging opposition politicians were in contempt of court for obstructing a re-run by withdrawing from the race and by ordering supporters to continue protests including during trainings of election staff in western Kenya.
“The current political climate indeed strikingly resembles the period prior to 2007-2008 post-election violence,” said Francis Ole Kaparo, chair of the National Cohesion and Integration Commission, a government body in charge of preventing hate speech. Following the disputed 2007 poll, more than 1,200 Kenyans were killed.
Reporting by Duncan Miriri and John Ndiso; Writing by Maggie Fick; Editing by Richard Balmforth

Kenyan President snubs election crisis meeting

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It’s now four days to go till Rwanda 2017 elections on Friday, August 4th as they decide the future of their country for the next seven years. CNBC Africa&#8217;s Michael Mugisha spoke to various people to get a sense of their expectations.

Rwandans speak out ahead of elections

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The South African Communist Party is taking legal action against President Zuma over his controversial cabinet reshuffle in March. The party&#8217;s second Deputy Secretary General Solly Mapaila said Zuma lied about his decision to fire, amongst others,.

SACP to contest future elections independently

Marafaele Mohloboli
The party of Lesotho&#8217;s former prime minister, Thomas Thabane, won a national election at the weekend but failed to gain an outright majority in parliament and will now form a coalition government, the party said on Tuesday.
Thabane&#8217;s All Basotho Convention (ABC) won 48 parliamentary seats, compared with 30 won by incumbent Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili&#8217;s Democratic Congress (DC), according to results released on Tuesday by the Independent Electoral Commission.
The ABC will form a coalition government with the Alliance of Democrats, the Basotho National Party and the Reformed Congress of Lesotho to reach the 61-seat majority required to form a government, the parties said in a joint statement.
&#8220;The people have spoken in a loud voice and as the four parties we have accepted their mandate and promise to serve them,&#8221; the four parties said. &#8220;We&#8217;d like to announce to Basotho and the international community that together we have enough votes to form a coalition government.&#8221;
The election outcome reverses the result of an election two years ago, when Mosisili&#8217;s DC ousted Thabane and the ABC by uniting with smaller parties.
But Mosisili lost a confidence vote in parliament in March after several defections by ruling coalition lawmakers to the opposition eroded his support.
Lesotho, a nation of 2 million people, has been hit by several coups since gaining independence from Britain in 1966 and its last two elections failed to produce a winner with a clear majority. Thabane, who governed from 2012 until 2015, and other opposition leaders fled the country to South Africa in 2015 after an assassination attempt on his life.
(Reporting by Marafaele Mohloboli; Writing by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by Larry King)

Lesotho’s Mosisili loses election to former Prime Minister Thabane

Politics are in shambles across the world. Populism and political gambles are making headlines from London to Washington. Southern Africa is no exception. If it’s any comfort, this suggests that there’s nothing genuinely typical about African versions of <a href="https://www.dandc.eu/en/article/populism-common-southern-africa-where-former-liberation-movements-have-become-dominant">political populism</a>. Nor are the flaws in democracy typically African.
This might put some events into wider perspective. But it’s nonetheless worrying to follow the current political turmoil in some southern Africa countries.
The regional hegemon, South Africa, is embroiled in domestic policy tensions of unprecedented proportions since it became a democracy. And the situation in the sub-region is not much better.
The state of opposition politics and democracy is in a shambles too. The fragile political climate and the mentality of most opposition politicians hardly offer meaningful alternatives. This is possibly an explanation – but no excuse – for the undemocratic practices permeating almost every one of the region’s democracies.
Beyond multi-party systems with regular elections, they resemble very little of true democracies.
<h2>South African hiccups</h2>
At the end of May the dimensions of “state capture” in South Africa were set out in a report published by an <a href="http://www.timeslive.co.za/politics/2017/05/26/FULL-REPORT-%E2%80%98How-South-Africa-is-Being-Stolen%E2%80%99-a-report-on-state-capture">academic team</a>.
It shows how deeply the personalised systematic plundering of state assets is <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2017-05-26-betrayal-of-the-promise-the-anatomy-of-state-capture/">entrenched</a>. Additional explosive evidence was presented only days later through thousands of leaked e-mails. Dubbed the “Gupta Leaks”, they document a mafia-like network among Zuma-loyalists and the Indian Gupta family.
The evidence points to massive influence, if not control, over political appointments, the hijacking of higher public administration and embezzlement of <a href="http://www.timeslive.co.za/sundaytimes/stnews/2017/05/28/Here-they-are-The-emails-that-prove-the-Guptas-run-South-Africa">enormous proportions</a>.
Some 65% of South Africans want Zuma to <a href="http://www.politicsweb.co.za/news-and-analysis/65-of-south-africans-want-zuma-to-resign--ipsos">resign</a>. An all-time low approval rating of 20% makes him less popular among the electorate than even <a href="http://time.com/4785127/michael-temer-nicolas-maduro-donald-trump/">US President Donald Trump</a>. Despite this – combined with growing demands from within the party that he steps down – the ANC still backs its president.
But divisions within the party are deepening, with some in its leadership demanding an <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/88337066-4797-11e7-8519-9f94ee97d996">investigation</a> into the Gupta patronage network.
For his part, Zuma is focused on pulling strings to secure Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma as <a href="https://www.theelephant.info/dispatches/2017/03/10/zuma-succession-the-businessman-vs-the-ex-wife-or-is-it-all-smoke-and-mirrors/">his successor</a> as president of the party. The other front-runner candidate is Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Zuma’s assumption appears to be that, once in office, his former wife would not endorse any legal prosecution of the father of her children.
But the country’s official opposition party, Democratic Alliance (DA), isn’t reaping the benefits of the ANC’s blunders. It has its own problems, which are constraining the gains it might otherwise be making from the ANC’s mess.
The party is divided over what to do about its former leader and Premier of the Western Cape province, Helen Zille following a tweet in which she defended the legacy of colonialism. The comment whipped up a storm of protest and for weeks the party had been at pains on how to deal with the scandal.
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DA leader Mmusi Maimane finally announced that Zille had been suspended from the party and that a disciplinary hearing would decide what further <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-40143710?ocid=socialflow_twitter">political consequences</a> she might face. But a resilient Zille immediately challenged <a href="http://m.news24.com/news24/SouthAfrica/News/das-u-turn-on-zille-suspension-20170603">the decision</a>.
Whatever the outcome, the DA’s image is damaged. Its aspirations to be the country’s new majority party has been dealt a major blow.
<h2>Regional woes</h2>
In Angola, 74-year-old Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who has been in office since 1979, has decided to select a <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-3995176/Angolas-President-Dos-Santos-stand-2017-state-radio.html">successor</a>. The scenario will secure that the family “oiligarchy” will remain in control of politics and the country’s economy, while the governing People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) uses the state apparatus to ruthlessly suppress any meaningful <a href="https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/the-mercury/20170221/281706909446949">social protests</a>.
In contrast Robert Mugabe – reigning in Zimbabwe since independence in 1980 &#8211; shows no intention of retiring. He was nominated again as the Zimbabwe African Nation Union/Patriotic Front’s (ZANU/PF) candidate for the 2018 <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-africa-30365706/mugabe-confirmed-as-zanu-pf-candidate-for-2018-election">presidential elections</a>. But everyone is anxiously following the party’s internal power struggles over the ailing autocrat’s <a href="http://www.thezimbabwean.co/2017/04/zimbabwes-make-break-moment/">replacement</a>. Fears are that the vacuum created by his departure might create a worse situation.
While the regime’s constant violation of human rights is – as in Angola – geared towards preventing any form of meaningful opposition, there are concerns that the unresolved succession might add another violent dimension to local politics.
Zambia’s democracy also looks sad. The country’s main opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema of the United Party for National Development (UPND) is on trial for high treason. Hichilema has been embroiled in a personal feud with President Edgar Lungu of the governing Patriotic Front (PF) for years. He was arrested in early April after obstructing the president’s motor cavalcade. The charge of high treason is based on the accusation that he <a href="https://zambiareports.com/2017/04/09/hichilema-willfully-put-pres-lungus-life-danger-state-house/">wilfully put President Lungu’s life in danger</a>.
The trial is feeding growing concerns over an increasingly autocratic regime. The once praised democracy, which allowed for several <a href="https://www.themastonline.com/2017/05/15/its-time-to-start-talking-about-zambia-says-cheeseman/">relatively peaceful transfers</a> of political power since the turn of the century, is <a href="https://www.lusakatimes.com/2017/05/16/birmingham-university-professor-cheesemans-ignorance-democracy-shocking-regrettable/">now in decline</a>.
Lesotho is also in a mess. It provides a timely reminder that competing parties seeking to obtain political control over governments are by no means a guarantee for better governance. Aptly described as a <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2017-06-02-00-lesothos-groundhog-day-election">“Groundhog Day election”</a>, citizens in the crisis-ridden country went to the polls for the third time since 2012 with no new <a href="http://africanarguments.org/2017/06/02/lesothos-night-before-the-elections-photo-of-the-weekexplainer/">alternatives or options</a>.
Their limited choice is between two former prime ministers aged 77 (Tom Thabane) and 72 (Pakalitha Mosisili). The likely election result is another fragile coalition government – provided the military accepts the result.
Meanwhile, the biggest challenge for relative political stability in the region might still be in the making: President Joseph Kabila, whose second term in office in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) ended in December 2016, is still hanging on with the promise that he’ll vacate the post by end of this year.
Despite a constitutional two-term limit, his plans remain a matter of speculation. In a recent interview, he was characteristically <a href="http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/die-lage-am-samstag-aggressiver-nationalismus-plus-atomraketen-a-1150544.html">evasive</a>. He refused to give a straight answer on whether he’s still considering <a href="http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/kabila-says-he-never-promised-to-hold-elections-in-drc-20170603">another term</a> and flatly denied that he had promised anything, including elections.
Kabila’s <a href="http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2016/12/21/Up-to-20-dead-as-Congo-police-protesters-clash-over-president/6411482288306/">extended stay in office</a> threatens to exacerbate an already explosive and violent situation, with potentially devastating consequences.
His continued reign would not only provoke further bloodshed at home. Any spill-over will challenge the Southern African Development Community’s willingness and ability to find solutions to regional conflicts in the interests of <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-southern-africa-can-learn-from-west-africa-about-dealing-with-despots-71722">relative stability</a>. A stability which is at best fragile and indicative of the crisis of policy in most of the regional body’s member states.

Op-Ed: Democracy is looking sickly across southern Africa

George Obulutsa | NAIROBI
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta kicked off his official campaign for reelection with a rally in Nairobi on Monday, echoing a call by main challenger Raila Odinga to avoid the violence that followed voting a decade ago.
Kenyatta led a lively procession of luxury sports utility vehicles around the city to reach the rally held after the electoral board cleared his candidacy for the August poll.
<blockquote>&#8220;We are determined to ensure that we conduct our elections peacefully,&#8221; the president told the crowd. &#8220;We have no intention to insult, obstruct, abuse our opponents &#8230; Peace now, peace during and peace after the election.&#8221;</blockquote>
Odinga, the veteran opposition leader who held a similar rally on Sunday after his fourth run for the presidency was officially approved, also said in a talk with journalists that the campaign and voting would be orderly.
&#8220;The campaigns are going to be very peaceful, and at the end of the day we expect it is going to be a fair contest,&#8221; he said. &#8220;In any contest there will be winners and there will be losers.&#8221;
Many Kenyans are concerned about possible election-linked violence. More than 1,200 people were killed in 2007 after Odinga called for protests following the vote that year and later degenerated into ethnic based violence.
Electoral authorities had abruptly stopped tallying votes and announced the incumbent president Mwai Kibaki the winner.
Odinga narrowly lost the 2013 elections to Kenyatta and challenged the result in court. He did not call for protests that time and a judge upheld the result, handing Kenyatta a five-year term.
Kenyatta, the wealthy 55-year-old son of the country&#8217;s first president, is running on what he presents as his record of aggressive economic development drive, citing new roads, expansion of the electricity grid and a new Chinese-built railway linking the port of Mombasa to the capital Nairobi.
The head of the Jubilee party says he has strengthened the judiciary, reformed the electoral commission and overseen the devolution of power.
But his government has also been rocked by scandals and strikes by doctors and university lecturers, and has not convicted any senior officials of corruption.
Odinga, 72, also comes from a powerful political family &#8211; his father was Kenya&#8217;s first vice-president. He has pledged to lower rocketing food prices, tackle corruption, reform the public sector and strengthen local government.
Jailed for eight years in 1982 after a failed coup, the self-declared leftist was one of Kenya&#8217;s longest serving political prisoners. He ran for president in 1997 but lost. After the violence following the 2007 vote, he served as prime minister from 2008-2013 in a power-sharing government.
The opposition National Super Alliance, known by its acronym NASA, nominated him as its candidate in April.
Seven other presidential candidates have been cleared to run for president.
(Reporting by George Obulutsa; Editing by Katharine Houreld and Tom Heneghan)

Kenya President Kenyatta launches campaign amid concern over violence

The news media is usually one of first casualties of bungled or contested elections. From the recent <a href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/on-media/2016/12/report-general-election-coverage-overwhelmingly-negative-in-tone-232307">US elections</a>, the <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/brexit-latest-news-eu-referendum-media-coverage-acrimonious-divisive-report-kings-college-a7727716.html">UK’s Brexit</a> vote to <a href="http://www.dw.com/en/election-observers-in-zambia-report-media-biased-in-vote/a-19473207">Zambia’s controversial 2016 presidential elections</a>, the mainstream news media bore the brunt of much of the criticism that followed.
In Africa, biased media coverage, most often in favour of incumbent presidents, is one of the reasons voters have <a href="http://www.mediamonitoringafrica.org/index.php/resources/entry/no_big_deal_poverty_service_delivery_and_election_coverage_election_report_/">little faith</a> in the legitimacy of election outcomes.
In South Africa for example, the public broadcaster routinely comes under <a href="http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Local-Elections-2011/DA-SABC-coverage-of-ANC-rally-biased-20110515">intense criticism</a> at election time for being a propaganda outlet for the ruling African National Congress.
Kenya’s state broadcaster has often shed its public mandate to become the <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7143996.stm">governing party’s mouthpiece</a> during general elections. In countries such as Uganda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Swaziland and Zambia public broadcasters openly canvas for incumbent governments during elections.
Media as independent arbiter
Over the last few years, the nature of political campaigns in Africa has changed significantly. Politicians and political parties are now actively shaping their public profiles. They are engaging <a href="http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2013/04/06/how-british-pr-firm-helped-jubilee-win_c757891">powerful PR agencies</a> and even starting their own media organisations to market themselves.
In Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta’s governing Jubilee Party has engaged the services of British PR firm BTP Advisors, as well as the data mining company <a href="http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2017/05/10/uhuru-hires-data-firm-behind-trump-brexit-victories_c1557720">Cambridge Analytica (CA)</a>.
CA played a key role in Donald Trump’s win in the US presidential elections, and in the UK’s Brexit vote through aggressive data driven campaigning.
This changing political landscape has complicated the media’s role in the coverage of elections. But there’s still an expectation that the mainstream news media should play the <a href="https://www.article19.org/data/files/pdfs/tools/kenya-elections.pdf">role of impartial arbiter</a>.
They are expected to provide an open platform for broader public deliberation particularly at election time.
It’s this expectation that informs criticism when the media fails to fulfil this important mandate. Indeed, while digital technologies such as social media have now been widely adopted in Africa, millions remain <a href="http://mgafrica.com/article/2016-04-29-africa-connectivity">unconnected to the Internet</a>. This means that that these new platforms are inaccessible to the masses.
Traditional media &#8211; particularly radio &#8211; therefore remain an important platform for public engagement. At election time, these kinds of legacy media formats are critical in enabling the public to make informed choices.
Elections in Africa are fiercely fought because the <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/ethnicity-an-african-predicament/">state is seen as a resource</a>. Winning elections makes accessing the state possible, usually to the exclusion of those who lose.
Because the stakes are so high, when people lose faith in the credibility of an election some resort to violence. This was the case in Kenya following the disputed 2007-2008 elections.
This led to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/jul/15/kenya-post-election-violence-amnesty-international">post-election violence</a>. Over 1000 people lost their lives, 600,000 were displaced and property worth millions of Kenyan shillings was destroyed.
The peace narrative
This August, Kenya goes to the polls again in what’s expected to be another bruising political context. For the country’s news media, the coverage of these elections will be extremely challenging.
The last elections held in 2013 were largely peaceful even if the outcome of the presidential tally was disputed. The peaceful elections, which were fought with as much passion as the disputed 2007 poll, didn’t happen that way by accident.
The Kenyan media adopted a new approach in 2013 after having been accused of <a href="http://www.gsdrc.org/document-library/the-kenyan-2007-elections-and-their-aftermath-the-role-of-media-and-communication/">contributing to the violence</a> that engulfed the country in the aftermath of the 2007 elections.
<a href="http://www.peacejournalism.org/Peace_Journalism/Welcome.html">“Peace” journalism</a> was uniformly adopted by all mainstream media. Controversial stories were not covered. Meanwhile, reference to politicians’ ethnic identities was avoided in media coverage.
Ethnicity remains an important characteristic of political competition in Kenya hence the sensitivity to ethnic markers of identity. But “peace” journalism remains controversial and the Kenyan media was <a href="http://www.journalism.co.za/blog/self-censorship-by-the-kenyan-media-in-the-2013-elections/">widely criticised</a> for adopting it.
Many argue that focusing on peace at the expense of the credibility of the elections, ignoring for example numerous electoral anomalies, was a case of <a href="http://freespeechdebate.com/discuss/124451/">self-censorship</a>.
Indeed, renowned writers such as Michaela Wrong likened the Kenyan media to <a href="https://latitude.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/14/erring-on-the-side-of-caution-kenyas-media-undercovered-the-election/">“a zombie army”</a>. She argued that it had “taken up position where Kenya’s feisty media used to be, with local reporters going glaze-eyed through the motions”.
Local journalists didn’t agree. They argued that <a href="http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Opinion/Ms-Wrong-is-wrong-on-Kenya-yet-again/440808-1728676-r3hpv7z/index.html">erring on the side of caution</a> was a sacrifice worth making in light of the 2007-2008 post-election violence, when the news media was accused of irresponsible coverage which contributed to it.
Changing media landscape
As the news media decides which approach to adopt in the coverage of the next general election, it must recognise that its role has changed considerably in Africa and around the world. While mainstream media remains an important space for public debate, it can no longer be regarded as an impartial arbiter due to three key changes.
First, the African media has become an active participant in the political process because quite a few outlets are now owned by politicians. In Kenya for example, <a href="http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/corporate/Kenyatta-business-empire-goes-into-expansion-drive/539550-2069704-liwltz/index.html">the current president owns Media Max</a>, a company with diverse media interests including TV, radio and newspapers.
Media outlets that are owned by politicians have been known to take sides either covertly or overtly. While this tradition is part of the political culture in the <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/oct/18/americas-tradition-of-media-bias/">United States</a> and <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/british-media-is-the-most-right-wing-in-europe-yougov-finds-a6859266.html">Europe</a>, such partisanship is still only grudgingly accepted in Africa.
Second, elections have become an important <a href="http://aceproject.org/main/english/me/mec04b.htm">source of revenue</a> for the media with wealthy candidates and political parties spending large amounts of money in political advertising. As such, coverage is skewed in favour of those who can afford the high cost of advertising.
In Kenya for example, a staggering <a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/business/article/2000064917/media-warms-up-to-political-cash">8 billion shillings</a> ($77 million) was spent on radio campaigns alone during the 2013 election cycle.
Finally, the number of news content providers has grown exponentially. Mainstream media now has to fight for audiences like never before. This has forced it to ignore some of the most fundamental features of journalism like the verification of stories and strong gate-keeping processes.
As political campaigns evolve in Africa, so must media coverage of elections. However, it remains incumbent upon the press to act responsibly and in the interest of democracy.

Op-Ed: Why the role of the media is so important to free and fair elections in Africa

<div id="article-byline"> <a href="http://www.reuters.com/journalists/michel-rose">Michel Rose</a> and <a href="http://www.reuters.com/journalists/jean-baptiste-vey">Jean-Baptiste Vey</a> | PARIS</div>
Emmanuel Macron took power as president of France on Sunday, vowing to restore the country&#8217;s status in Europe and the world and heal divisions in society &#8212; a nod to the bitter campaign the pro-EU centrist fought to defeat a far-right leader.
The 39-year-old former investment banker, unknown to the wider public three years ago and whose May 7 election marked a meteoric rise to power, was inaugurated leader of the world&#8217;s fifth-largest economy in a solemn Elysee Palace ceremony.
In his first words after taking office, he pledged to restore France&#8217;s standing on the world stage, strengthen national self-confidence and heal divisions that the bitterly-fought campaign had opened up.
Macron beat the National Front&#8217;s Marine Le Pen in a May 7 run-off vote but the long campaign exposed deep divisions over France&#8217;s role in Europe, immigration, and policies to revive a sluggish economy bedeviled by high unemployment.
&#8220;The division and fractures in our society must be overcome. I know that the French expect much from me. Nothing will make me stop defending the higher interests of France and from working to reconcile the French,&#8221; Macron declared.
Although his victory over Le Pen was comfortable, almost half of France&#8217;s 47 million voters chose candidates with views opposed to Macron&#8217;s in the first round of the election.
Many say they feel dispossessed by globalization as manufacturing jobs move abroad and as immigration and a fast-changing world blur their sense of a French identity.
A convinced European integrationist unlike Le Pen and other leadership candidates, Macron went on: &#8220;The world and Europe need more than ever France, and a strong France, which speaks out loudly for freedom and solidarity.&#8221;
Seeking closer ties with EU anchor nation Germany, Macron will meet Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on Monday. He will ram home the message that the European Union is resilient despite Britain&#8217;s vote to leave and a spate of financial and migration crises that have boosted the far right.
Monday will also see Macron name his prime minister, whose job will be to pilot liberalizing reforms aimed at reducing joblessness and reviving economic growth.
<div id="attachment_123475" style="width: 650px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-123475" class="size-full wp-image-123475" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Emmanuel_Macron_wikimedia.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="362" />Photo: Wikimedia.</div>
YOUNGEST FRENCH POST-WAR LEADER
Macron becomes the youngest post-war French leader and the first to be born after 1958, when President Charles de Gaulle put in place the country&#8217;s Fifth Republic.
In a ceremony full of pomp, he was presented with what is effectively his chain of office &#8212; a heavy golden necklace mounted on a red cushion that makes him Grand Master of the National Order of the Legion d&#8217;Honneur.
But Macron appeared determined to create an impression of personal modesty. Aides went out of their way to emphasize that the dark suit he wore cost about 450 euros or just under $500, and that the lavender outfit worn by his wife Brigitte had been loaned by fashion house Louis Vuitton.
He displayed youthful vigor during the televised proceedings, at one point racing up the Elysee stairs to meet a protocol requirement &#8212; something not all previous French presidents might have managed.
He then chose to be driven by military jeep rather than civilian limousine to the Arc de Triomphe, where he stood in the rain, without coat or umbrella, to light the flame in tribute to France&#8217;s war dead at the tomb of the unknown soldier &#8212; a powerful reminder of France&#8217;s role in the NATO defense alliance.
Further underscoring a commitment to France&#8217;s military and peacekeeping role in the Middle East and Africa, he visited wounded service personnel in the military hospital. Aides have flagged a likely visit to French troops in Mali for next Friday.
Macron&#8217;s rise, marked by a 21-gun salute at the Esplanade des Invalides, signaled at least a pause in the anti-globalization trend that elevated businessman Donald Trump into the U.S. presidency and led British voters to choose Brexit.
He later shook hands with well-wishers on the Champs Elysees, not far from where a policeman was shot dead by a gunman in April.
More than 230 people have died in France in attacks claimed by Islamic State over the past two years as the country has taken part in military action against the militant group that controls parts of Syria and Iraq.
Fifteen hundred police were mobilized to ensure security for Macron&#8217;s inauguration while a large section of Paris was closed to traffic all morning.
NUCLEAR CODES
Macron assumed power after an hour-long private meeting with outgoing President Francois Hollande, 62, in which official access to France&#8217;s nuclear missile launch codes was handed over.
Macron, once Hollande&#8217;s economy minister, then accompanied his former mentor down the red carpet to a waiting car.
He must now try to win a majority in June parliamentary elections for his start-up Republic on the Move (REM) party, which has blown apart traditional French political boundaries.
But Macron may struggle to get the country behind him.
In the first round of voting, more than 45 percent chose Le Pen or other candidates who promised different medicine, such as closing the wealth gap by rolling back globalization, shutting borders and rejecting the EU.
The business-friendly labor reforms in Macron&#8217;s program follow on from policies that helped make Hollande the least popular French president in modern history and killed his chances of a second term by failing to ease unemployment.
(Reporting by Mathieu Rosemain, Marine Pennetier, Ingrid Melander, Elizabeth Pineau and John Irish; Writing by Richard Balmforth; Editing by Catherine Evans)

France’s Macron takes power, vows to heal division, restore global status

Party primaries ahead of the August elections have been disrupted due to poor preparation, accusations of rigging and violence. Both the ruling Jubilee Party (JPK) and the main opposition party in the National Super Alliance (Nasa), the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), have been affected.
The results of JPK’s primaries held on Friday, April 21, were annulled due to the chaos caused by logistical delays and under-preparedness (President Uhuru Kenyatta emphasised that they were under-prepared rather than unprepared in a desperate attempt to save face).
The ODM’s primaries, meanwhile, were also characterised by poor planning and incidents of violence – particularly in its strongholds (such as Homa Bay, Migori, Kisii, Kwale and Busia, among others).
Parties have until May 1 to conclude their nomination processes. This delay puts further pressure on the electoral commission which is already struggling to keep to its preparation schedule.
The fear, as in 2013, is that the violence displayed portends further violence in August, but this does not necessarily follow.
Primaries in 2013 were also characterised by poor planning and violence and the same fear arose; however, the January primaries of that year were the high point for conflict and the elections passed in relative peace.
The chaos was largely expected at the most recent primaries. JPK had asked the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to conduct its primaries in order to ensure that they went smoothly and were accepted by aspirants to be free and fair (critics claimed that they also just wanted the government to foot the bill).
The opposition protested that taxpayer money should not be used for party primaries and threatened to oppose the idea in court. Their critics, meanwhile, said that opposition parties just wanted to use the primaries to raise money off of aspirants and as a way for the leaders within the party to manipulate the outcomes.
It is interesting to note that in 2013 the Wiper Democratic Movement (part of Nasa) had supported the idea of the IEBC conducting party primaries.
“All political parties will agree with me that going forward, we will have to have better ways of nominations and my observation is that they be IEBC-led because the polls body is the only institution that has the wherewithal to conduct the exercise,” Wiper Party Leader Kalonzo Musyoka said in January 2013.
In the end, the IEBC stated that it already has enough on its plate with the task of organising the general elections. Hopefully the chaos of the primaries will cause them to double their efforts to ensure that August’s polls go off without a hitch.
Next time calls for the IEBC to be involved may have more support.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-121190" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Protest_Riots-Graph-300x200.png" alt="" width="300" height="200" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-121243" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Violence_Civilians-Graph-300x200.png" alt="" width="300" height="200" />
As we can see from the graphs, conflict during the 2013 election season peaked around the primaries and then tapered off significantly. It is likely that this year will see the same pattern.
Levels of protests and riots, as recorded by the Armed Conflict Location &amp; Event Data Project (Acled), are much the same as they were in 2013 while the data on violence against civilians (by government security forces) indicates that tensions are markedly lower this time around.
Obviously, the 2013 elections were significantly tenser due to them being the first elections since the 2007/08 violence that killed over 1,200 people and caused hundreds of thousands to be displaced.
Are the fears of significant violence and instability warranted?
Analysis of the 2013 elections by Nic Cheeseman, Gabrielle Lynch and Justin Willis identified four reasons why the polls were more peaceful than previous ones: 1) the alliance between Mr Kenyatta and William Ruto (now deputy president) defused ethnic tensions between Kikuyus and Kalenjin’s (the main groups involved in the 2007/08 violence), 2) a pervasive peace narrative carried by all main contenders and the media, 3) democratic reforms instituted after the adoption of a new constitution, and 4) devolution and the creation of 47 new counties which allowed the opposition to win locally even though it lost nationally.
As these factors are still largely in play in the current situation, we can perhaps expect a similar level of conflict to characterise this election.
However, there are obviously new factors to consider.
The peace narrative is not as strong this time around – although Mr Kenyatta has lately been calling for cool heads to prevail – and rising inflation and food scarcity due to the drought has affected many.
Meanwhile, questions over the IEBC and the electoral process have been raised by the opposition, which raises the risk of challenges to the results.
Should Nasa break up before the election, this could bring new reasons to worry.
Dynamics in the Rift Valley, where Isaac Ruto of the Chama Cha Mashinani (CCM) party has joined Nasa, also need to be watched. Both he and Deputy President Ruto (no relation) have one eye on the 2022 election (along with Gideon Moi of the Kenya African National Union, Kanu) and this could see the fight for the Kalenjin vote turn violent.
On the positive side (with regard to risk) the opposition is in disarray and a JPK win in the presidential race would surprise few – meaning challenges to the result will not hold much sway and this could reduce the chances of post-election violence.
The chaotic primaries, then, do not necessarily portend violence in August. The factors that made 2013 far more peaceful than 2007/08 (not to mention elections in the early 1990s) are still largely in play.
New dynamics are ambiguous, with some likely to increase tensions (such as those in the Rift Valley) while others could further decrease the likelihood of violence (such as the slow start to the Nasa campaign and widely held expectations of a Jubilee win).
What we have learnt from the chaotic primaries is that there may in future be more support for the IEBC conducting them (which would add to the costs of elections for the government) and party politics in Kenya remains under-developed (Mr Kenyatta would perhaps prefer that description).
The effects of devolution are also once again evident, but while they may have helped spur the establishing of JPK as a national party, they have not brought about a similar national opposition party.
This may only occur in 2022 – which should be a more interesting election altogether.
Nasa is scheduled to announce its presidential candidate on April 27. It is expected that Raila Odinga (ODM) will once again be put forward with Kalonzo Musyoka (Wiper Party) as his running mate.

Kenya – Chaotic primaries and the threat of election violence – just like in 2013

Duncan Miriri | NAIROBI
Kenya&#8217;s main opposition alliance said on Thursday it had chosen veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga as its candidate for a presidential election scheduled for August 8.
Odinga, 72, will face off against President Uhuru Kenyatta, who is running for a second and final five-year term. The two men were the main contenders in the last election in 2013.
(Reporting by Duncan Miriri; editing by John Stonestreet)

Kenya’s opposition alliance picks Odinga as presidential candidate

Mali&#8217;s President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita announced a new government on Tuesday stocked with loyalists seen as helping him prepare for a re-election bid next year.
The government, announced in a presidential decree, includes 10 new ministers and 25 holdovers from the previous cabinet.
Tieman Hubert Coulibaly, a former defence minister and close Keita ally, was handed the crucial post of minister of territorial administration, charged with organising presidential and parliamentary elections late next year.
The shakeup follows Keita&#8217;s nomination at the weekend of Adboulaye Idrissa Maiga, another close ally and the defence minister in the previous government, as prime minister.
Mali&#8217;s government is struggling to contain militancy in its north, where rival tribal militias frequently clash and Islamist groups launch attacks on civilians, Malian soldiers, U.N. peacekeepers and French forces there.
Islamist fighters, some linked to al Qaeda, seized northern Mali in 2012 before being driven out of major cities and towns by a French-led military intervention a year later.
Tiena Coulibaly, ambassador to the United States, was named the new defence minister.
(Reporting by Adama Diarra; Writing by Aaron Ross; Editing by Andrew Roche)

Mali President Keita names loyalist cabinet ahead of 2018 elections

The U.S. State Department on Thursday cautioned Americans living in or traveling to Kenya about possible rallies or protests that could turn violent, ahead of general elections slated for Aug. 8.
<blockquote>&#8220;Rallies, demonstrations, and protests may occur with little notice and even those intended to be peaceful can escalate into violence,&#8221; the State Department said in a travel alert. &#8220;As with all large events, there is also the opportunity for criminal elements or terrorists to target participants and visitors.&#8221;</blockquote>
Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga said in February that mass protests were possible if the August elections were rigged. After a disputed poll in 2007, more than 1,200 people were killed in weeks of fighting after political protests turned into ethnic clashes, but 2013 elections passed relatively peacefully.
(Reporting by Yeganeh Torbati)

Should tourists be cautioned ahead of Kenya elections?

Zimbabwean opposition parties demanded on Wednesday that presidential elections next year be conducted by a committee set up by the United Nations and African Union because they had lost confidence in the neutrality of the local election agency.
President Robert Mugabe, 94 and in power for 30 years, is due to run again.
Leaders from several political parties, including Movement for Democratic Change&#8217;s Morgan Tsvangirai, told a few hundred supporters during a protest rally in the capital that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) had failed to be partial and should be disbanded.
Police deployed water cannon and anti-riot officers on the streets of the capital throughout the day after confining the protesters to an open space on the edge of the city centre.
The opposition parties, who were united under a National Election Reform Agenda (NERA), were protesting against changes to the voter registration process and said they would rally behind Tsvangirai to face Mugabe in the presidential vote.
Anti-government protests in August descended into some of the worst violence seen in the southern African nation for two decades as anger over economic hardship boiled over.
NERA chairman Farai Mbire said the United Nations, African Union and the Southern African Development Community &#8220;must immediately establish an independent, tripartite election management body to take over the full functions of ZEC.&#8221;
The opposition parties also said Mugabe&#8217;s government should back off from its decision to take over the purchase of biometric voter registration kits from the United Nations.
They fear this will make it easier for Mugabe&#8217;s ZANU-PF to skew the list of eligible voters in its favour.
Mbire did not say what would happen if Mugabe&#8217;s government rejected their demands. ZANU-PF legal secretary and Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa told the state-run Herald newspaper that it was ZEC&#8217;s constitutional right to run elections.
Anti-riot police allowed a handful of NERA officials to present a petition to the offices of ZEC.
Zimbabwe is due to hold its next presidential and parliamentary election by July 2018. Mugabe has been endorsed as the ruling party&#8217;s presidential candidate.
(Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Ed Cropley/Jeremy Gaunt)

Zimbabwe opposition demand UN-conducted vote

Zimbabwean police deployed water cannon and anti-riot officers on the streets of the capital on Wednesday ahead of a planned demonstration by opposition parties against changes to the voter registration process.
Anti-government protests in August descended into some of the worst violence seen in the southern African nation for two decades as anger over economic hardship boiled over.
Opposition parties united under a National Election Reform Agenda (NERA) banner are campaigning against a government decision to take over the purchase of biometric voter registration kits from the United Nations.
They fear this will make it easier for President Robert Mugabe&#8217;s ruling ZANU-PF party to skew the list of eligible voters in its favour.
Police have allowed the NERA protest march on the outskirts of downtown Harare but have prevented it from heading through the city centre to the offices of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC).
Opposition parties say ZEC is biased in favour of ZANU-PF and is run by security agents loyal to the 93-year-old Mugabe. ZEC denies the allegations.
Zimbabwe is due to hold its next presidential and parliamentary election by July 2018. Mugabe has been endorsed as the ruling party&#8217;s presidential candidate.
(Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Ed Cropley)
&nbsp;

elections

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Kenya President Kenyatta launches campaign amid concern over violence

Op-Ed: Why the role of the media is so important to free and fair elections in Africa

France’s Macron takes power, vows to heal division, restore global status

Kenya – Chaotic primaries and the threat of election violence – just like in 2013

Kenya’s opposition alliance picks Odinga as presidential candidate

Mali President Keita names loyalist cabinet ahead of 2018 elections

Should tourists be cautioned ahead of Kenya elections?

Zimbabwe opposition demand UN-conducted vote

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elections

Op-Ed: Why elections don’t always equal democracy: the case of Kenya

All set for Anambra elections

Ahead of Nigeria’s 2019 elections: Expert predicts what will happen

Kenyan President snubs election crisis meeting

Rwandans speak out ahead of elections

SACP to contest future elections independently

Lesotho’s Mosisili loses election to former Prime Minister Thabane

Op-Ed: Democracy is looking sickly across southern Africa

Kenya President Kenyatta launches campaign amid concern over violence

Op-Ed: Why the role of the media is so important to free and fair elections in Africa

France’s Macron takes power, vows to heal division, restore global status

Kenya – Chaotic primaries and the threat of election violence – just like in 2013

Kenya’s opposition alliance picks Odinga as presidential candidate

Mali President Keita names loyalist cabinet ahead of 2018 elections

Should tourists be cautioned ahead of Kenya elections?

Zimbabwe opposition demand UN-conducted vote

Zimbabwe police out in force ahead of opposition protest

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