- More than three-fourths (78%) of Kenyans support regular, open, and honest elections as the best way to choose leaders (Figure 1).
- A large majority (78%) say Kenya needs many political parties to ensure that voters have a real choice when electing their leaders (Figure 3).
- Fewer than one in four Kenyans (23%) say the 2017 election was “completely free and fair,” while another 31% consider it “free and fair with minor problems.” More than four in 10 (42%) say the election was either “free and fair with major problems” or “not free and fair” (Figure 4).
- More than half of Kenyans say they trust the IEBC “just a little” (23%) or “not at all” (31%) (Figure 5).
More than three-fourths of Kenyans support regular, open, and honest elections as the best way to choose leaders, the most recent Afrobarometer survey shows.
And most citizens favour the existence of many political parties to ensure that voters have real choices in electing their leaders.
But fewer than half express trust in the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), the body charged with managing the country’s elections.
As Kenyans approach the August 2022 general elections, these perceptions are critical as they hold the key to the realization of a peaceful electoral process that has eluded the country for several electoral cycles.
Language
Countries
Regions
Related content
Working paper
WP103: Tribalism as a minimax-regret strategy: Evidence from voting in the 2007 Kenyan elections
Working paper
WP182: Is there an anti-politics of electricity? Access to the grid and reduced political participation in Africa
Dispatch
AD710: Dissatisfaction, disengagement mark outlook of young Kenyans