Kenya’s 2013 Elections: Technology Is Not Democracy

Abstract: The 2013 elections were Kenya’s fifth since the country returned to multiparty politics and the direct election of its president in 1992. Three of the preceding four elections were marked by violence. But in only one—the 2007 presidential contest—was the violence triggered by deep dissatisfaction with the electoral process and the electoral commission that administered the balloting. In an effort to avoid repeating the 2007 electoral debacle, Kenya’s election commission turned to technology, but its high-tech voter-registration and vote-count processes fell short. Its experience has important lessons both for emerging democracies and for international donors.