Election season

It is election day in Kenya, 5 years after the last election (though that election had a re-run a few months later after the first one was annulled by the court), and it is a relief that the election is finally here. It seems like campaigning began 4 years ago, as it is all the media focus on, though it did finally heat up earlier this year once the two coalitions were formalised. Kenya always has different coalitions of parties each time, and nothing really to do with policies, just different leaders from their parties deciding to work with other parties based on what they can get promised for their party if their coalition wins.

The streets are almost empty since it is a public holiday (to allow people to vote...voting takes 5-10 mins apparently, requiring putting fingerprints in a machine to prove identity or showing an identity card before filling in all six voting slips, and most people seem to enjoy queuing for hours early in the morning instead of coming later in the afternoon). In middle-class Nairobi there is the odd police officer outside the schools which serve as police stations, and cars parked along the roadside. In rural areas, people walk or take a motorbike; and in the slum areas of Nairobi there is a heavier police presence just in case.

Of course the international news tends to focus on risks of violence, because of how awful it was in 2007, but the last couple of elections have been calmer, with the police better prepared, and few Kenyans expect much violence this time... though any actual violence would come when the decisions are made (up to a week for the final decision on the president), rather than when actually voting. With both main coalitions having parties and candidates from multiple tribes/regions, there is less clearly a tribal dividing line between the two sides, which should reduce the risk for major violence. And as more Kenyans live in urban areas and marry/befriend those of other tribes it does seem that tribal preference is declining somewhat. My hairdresser says it is nice when people just use their first names rather than their family name (which would usually reveal what tribe someone is from).

Another reason for there possibly being a lack of violence is that many voters don't see a major difference between the parties (though there are some policy differences, with both sides having manifestos, the differences are more in tactics than in actual position or strategy, with both sides seeking to improve the lot of the unemployed or working class through different ways). Also many voters are somewhat skeptical of politicians in general, not expecting much to change whoever wins, and with the insane amounts of money spent on campaigns, everyone expects the winner to be corrupt in order to pay back bills or give financial backers jobs or contracts. Unfortunately parliament refused to pass a law that was proposed by the elections agency that would have limited campaign expenses. These are the same MPs that try to give themselves pay rises... and in fact the Central Bank of Kenya even believes that there are more low denomination notes in circulation during the election being used to pay for people to turn out to their rallies, or other reasons.

It is always a good sign in Africa when a sitting President retires at the end of their (two) terms, and Kenya gets commended for that, as well as a fairly orderly electoral process, a pretty free media and internet and many other things that are taken for granted in the West. So as much as there might be other issues (see previous paragraph!), there is still much that is good and if at least the tribal aspect of voting is becoming less influential and candidates actually have manifestos, that is real progress.

Another sign of progress is that one of the two main candidates has nominated a woman as his Deputy President, which really surprised many people and shook things up a bit when it was announced. She's also got quite a reputation as being a social justice campaigner and has stood up for what she stands for, apparently. Though there are also other less positive accusations against her. Still, in a society that is very male dominated (in fact there are so few women MPs that there are 47 MP positions that can only be filled by women, 1 per County, to ensure they have some representation in parliament), this could affect how women vote. I don't believe that gender has become a big issue more widely though, such as with any promises for how many of the cabinet would be women or anything, but a female Chief Justice was also appointed in the last couple of years.