Columbia International Affairs Online: Working Papers

CIAO DATE: 11/2009

Observing the 2002 Kenya Elections

June 2003

The Carter Center

Abstract

Kenya’s independence leader, Jomo Kenyatta, of the Kenya African National Union (KANU), held power from independence in June 1963 to the time of his death in August 1978. He was succeeded by then Vice President Daniel arap Moi, who retained the presidency through Kenya’s multiparty elections in 1992 and 1997. However, both elections were marred by controversy owing to political violence, widespread voting irregularities, and fraud. Human rights abuses have long cast a shadow over Kenya. Although the ban on opposition parties was lifted in 1991, government critics charged that KANU embarked on a campaign of electoral-minded ethnic cleansing, favoring loyal tribes over disloyal ones in an attempt to uproot communities perceived to support other parties. Kenya’s churches, civil society organizations, and many professional organizations organized to bring attention to these abuses, and a coalition of civil society organizations successfully observed the 1997 elections.