Kenya

In Kenya, all elections since the reintroduction of multiparty politics in 1992 have resulted in serious violence, with the exception of the 2002 general election. Notably, the controversial 2007 general election led to post-election violence causing over 1,000 deaths and the displacement of over 600,000 people.

As a result of this history of electoral violence, which emanates from the inadequacies of the dispute resolution mechanisms, stakeholders went into overdrive to institute significant reforms to guarantee a peaceful, transparent and credible general election in 2013. This involved the creation of an electoral Code of Conduct. The main objective of the Code was to promote conditions that were conducive to free and fair elections and a climate of tolerance in which political activity could take place without fear, coercion, intimidation or fear of reprisals. Even more importantly, it promoted ethnic tolerance, cultural diversity, gender equality and voter education campaigns with the aim of creating an electoral process that was devoid of any violence or intimidation of members and supporters of other parties.

The process of developing a CoC began when the Elections Bill (which became the Elections Act of 2011) was received by the Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution in May 2011. The CoC was included as an annex to this bill Elections Act 24 of 2011 Kenya

In addition to the CoC for election, there is also a Political Parties’ CoC enshrined in the Political Parties Act 2011, which provides guidelines on how political parties should enhance national unity, embrace diversity and promote free and fair elections Political Parties Act of Kenya 2011