This document discusses elections and political parties in Kenya. It defines electoral systems used in Kenya such as direct, indirect and mixed systems. It also examines the organization and types of political parties in Kenya. The document demonstrates how elections and political parties have sometimes led to conflict and instability in Kenya but that the 2010 Constitution aims to remedy this by establishing rules for political parties.

1. ELECTIONS AND PARTY
POLITICS
ELIUD BUNDI ONDARA
C51/74074/2014
LECTURERS
DR. LUDEKI CHWEYA
DR. ADAMS OLOO
CLASS PRESENTATION AS A REQUIREMENT OF MASTER OF ARTS IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION OF UNIVERSITY OF
NAIROBI

2. Objectives
• To Define and identify the electoral systems
• To define and determine the organization and social base of political
parties.
• To demonstrate the discordance between the normative promise of
the two processes as agents of political legitimization and stability
and a source of acrimony, destabilization and violence.
• To establish how the constitution of Kenya 2010 offers remedy.

3. Background - Elections
• An election is a formal decision making process by which a population
chooses an individual to hold public office.

4. Background - Elections
• Elections are a democratic process where citizens aged 18 and over elect
political candidates to represent them and their interests locally, nationally
or internationally.
• The process is determined by a voting system, where citizens vote for one
candidate.
• The candidate with the majority of votes is elected.
• Anyone who is enrolled on the Electoral Register is able to vote. There are
four different types of election:

5. Types of Elections
• Direct elections
• Indirect elections

6. Direct Election
• Describes a system of choosing political officeholders in which the
voters directly cast ballots for the person, persons or political party
that they desire to see elected.
• Examples of directly elected bodies are the European
parliament (since 1979) and the United States Senate (since 1917).

7. Indirect Election
• Is an election in which individual citizen’s vote for electors who will
select a candidate.
• Voters don't vote for the candidate directly, choosing instead to put
the decision in the hands of others.
• Indirect elections are used in a number of ways in nations around the
world, and, historically, indirect elections were extremely common.

8. The Nominating Process for President (by State)
• naming people for office
• 1. Self-announcement – person announces publicly that they will run
• 2. Caucus* – a group of people who think alike who come together to
nominate someone (state-wide townhall meetings)
• 3. Convention – members of a party meet to select delegates to later
choose a nominee

9. • 4. Primary* – election within a party for candidates (state-wide)
• Closed primary – only members of the party can vote
• Open primary – anyone can vote
5. Petition – voters sign petitions to select a candidate

10. Election System
• An election system determines how individual votes are counted.
• The mechanisms by which the preferences of citizens are translated
into seats in representative institutions.
• Given the same votes, different election systems will give different
results.
• Election systems impact the party systems in place and the type of
democracy in a country.

11. The Key variable of an electoral system is:
• The electoral formula used i.e. whether the system is
majoritarian or proportional AND what mathematical
formula is used to calculate the allocation of seats.

12. Electoral systems- A Typology
ELECTORAL SYSTEM
MAJORITARIAN
FPTP
Second Ballot
Supplementary Vote
System
Alternative Vote
PROPORTIONAL
List System
(Open &
Closed)
Single
Transferable
MIXED
MP
parallel

13. Electoral Systems - Majoritarian Systems
Also Simple majority system and not necessarily to get over 50%
First Past the Post
• The country is divided into constituencies with a single MP.
• Each voter has one vote.
• The candidate with the largest number of votes wins the seat.
• The party with the most seats forms the government.
• Example - Used in UK and Canada general elections.

14. Kenyan general election, 1997
Candidate Party Votes %
Daniel Arap Moi KANU 2,500,865 40.40
Mwai Kibaki DP 1,911,742 30.89
Raira Odinga NDP 667,886 10.79
Kijana Wamalwa Ford - Kenya 505,704 8.17
Charity Ngilu SDP 488,600 7.89
Which system was used to declare the winner?

15. Majoritarian Systems - The Alternative Vote System (AV)
(The winning candidate achieves more than 50% of the vote)
• Voters rank candidates in order of preference.
• Any candidate with 50%+ votes is elected.
• If no-one gets 50%, votes are redistributed
• This continues until someone wins.
• Example – Kenya’s 50 plus 1

16. Majority Systems cont…
Supplementary Vote System (SVS)
• Voters have first and second choice.
• Candidates with 50%+ of votes are automatically elected.
• If no-one has 50%, all candidates are eliminated except for the top two.
• The votes of losing candidates are redistributed to second choices.

17. Majority Systems cont…
The Second Ballot System
• If the candidate does not win more than 50% of the vote, a second
ballot takes place a week or two later.
• Sometimes the candidates with the least votes are eliminated.
• This is used in France where candidates must gain 12.5%+ of the vote
to stand in the second ballot.

18. Proportional Systems - List System (closed)
• Voters only vote for a party, not a person.
• The country is one large constituency.
• The parties draw up a list of candidates and puts them in order.
• Seats are allocated to parties according to the proportion of votes won.
• These seats are then filled from the lists.

19. Proportional Systems (cont.) - The List system (open)
• The country is divided into large regional constituencies.
• Parties can stand as many candidates as there are seats.
• Voters choose a number of candidates.
• Seats are allocated according to the number of votes.
• The most popular candidates win the seats.

20. Proportional Systems cont…
The Single transferable vote system
• The country is divided into large regional constituencies.
• The parties stand candidates for all the seats.
• Voters put candidates in preference order.
• Those who reach the quota are elected.
• Votes of lowest candidates are transferred

21. Hybrid Systems
Additional Member System (AMS)
• Voters vote for a constituency MP using First Past the Post.
• They also vote for a party.
• The Closed List System is used to allocate some seats to parties.
• Parties that do badly with FPTP are compensated in through the PR seats.
• Example - This is used in Scotland and Wales.

22. Why do we need an election?
• Countries, practically it is not possible for people to sit together every day and
take all the decisions.
• Nor everyone has the time and knowledge to take decisions on all matters.
• So in most democracies people rule through their representatives.
• Election provides a mechanism by which people can choose their representatives
at regular intervals and change them if they wish to do so.
• So election are essential in any representative democracy.

23. What is a Political Party?
• A political party is a group of like-minded people who hold similar
views on political issues of the country.
• It is an organised group seeking to gain power through democratic
means.
• In pursuit of this objective, political parties field their candidates in
the election held for the public offices of the country

24. Basic Characteristics of a Party
• Unity of purpose: A political party can only function when all its
members are united on basic issues and policy matters.
• Organised system of working: The political party should follow some
rules and regulations and maintain a certain discipline.
• Constitutional means: It should work through democratic means to
attain its objective.
• National interest: The parties working for groups such as scheduled
castes, scheduled tribes, factory workers are considered as political
parties because they work on non-sectarian issues.
• Programme & policy: A political party should hv certain aims and
objectives

25. Types of Party Systems
1. Single-party party systems
• Legal or constitutional bans on opposition parties
2. Two-party system
• Periodic alternation in government and opposition, other minor parties exist in the
electorate and legislature
3. Moderate multi-party system
• Several (4/5) parties, none approaching 50% of votes/seats, coalition governments
4. Fragmented multiparty system
• Multiple parties (6+) in the legislature

26. Organization Structure of Parties
• Political parties can be categorized in terms of two types of party
structure:
• cadre parties and
• mass parties.

27. cadre parties
• A small fraction (between 2 and 5 percent) of the population
formally belong to one of the political parties in the sense of actually
being members of one of the local clubs or organization.
• Most of the remainder of the population do, in fact, identify with one
of the parties and call themselves (in the United States) Democrats or
Republicans.
• The work and the financing of the party is left to a small elite group
of political activists.

28. Mass Parties
• Membership parties are more issue oriented than cadre parties.
• An issue-oriented party system is consist of competing groups of
people whose participation in politics derives from their desire to
translate certain policy preferences into public policy.
• One of the motives for joining a mass-membership party is a desire
for job preferment and other advantages that may accompany
membership.

29. Political Parties
• Political parties are the lifeblood of democratic systems of government
worldwide.
• Typically, the party in government is assumed to be the majority party and
is assumed to represent the interests of the majority.
• Alternatively, majority interests could be represented by a coalition of
parties.
• In contrast, the minority interests are represented by the party or parties
outside government, mostly the opposition party.

30. Party Politics in Kenya
• The republic of Kenya was described in early 1979 as "a one-party
state that is not without threats to its stability.
• Since independence, Kenya African National Union (KANU) and the de
facto one-party system in place (which became a de jure one-party
state in 1982) shaped the politics of the country.
• There has been some significant changes, especially since the early
1990s.

31. • The one-party system was a trend that could be seen all over the African
continent during the 1960s, and by the early 1970s.
• There was a general move away from federal and quasi-federal systems of
government to unitary systems.
• All of these trends point to centralization of power, personalized by the president
and as a result, power was diverted from party organs to the bureaucratic
machine instead.
• Kenya's one-party system had a weak ideological base and a weak party
machinery.

32. Multi-party Politics
• The Kenya People's Union (KPU) emerged in 1966, a radical party ready to
challenge the domination of KANU, until it was banned in October 1969.
• 1990s saw a wave of democratization sweeping across the African continent
which took form of shapes.
• Forum for the Restoration of Democracy (FORD) was formed in May 1991
• Due to international pressure and a series of riots, Kenya became a multi – party
state.
• However, there has been a significant growth of parties during the 1990s, parties
that are still continuing in to date.

33. Functions of Political Parties
• Representation of societal interests in legislatures;
• Political socialization and participation;
• Political education and communication;
• Recruitment of political leaders;
• Policy formulation; and
• Working towards national cohesion.

34. Organization Theory
• In studying political parties, organization theory as a framework of
analysis is used.
• The reason is that the theory’s framework focuses on operations,
motivations, as well as internal and external structures of institutions,
which is precisely what this study.
• Organisation theory views large human organizations as ‘living
systems’, with internal and external milieu as well as boundaries that
define their closure.

35. • Although political parties are not identified as typical organizations, they
are social institutions with features akin to these large organizations and
thus merit analysis using this approach.
• Organizational theorists privilege the close interactions of organizations
and their environments- physical, social, cultural, legal and political.
• As such, political parties must navigate the environment with their
interests at the fore, adapt in accordance with survival and other needs
such as reelection and gaining support among the electorate.

36. Socialization
• Attitudes toward participation in political activity or respect for authority and rights of
others are acquired in early age and reinforced through agents of socialization that are
dominant in adulthood.
• Agents of political socialization include:
• Family;
• Schools as they expose children to political literature and ideologies;
• Religion; mass media;
• Political parties; and
• Peer influence.
• The political party is expected to socialize its members or the citizenry in all these facets of
life.

37. Legitimization

38. Political Legitimization and Stability
• Elections and Parties for a vehicle for legitimizing a new regime.
• Legitimization is the process of convincing the target group and the
general public that the movement or party objectives are morally
right.
• Leaders of a political party might use ideological, theological,
philosophical, legal-technical, public opinion paths to establish the
tenability of the party’s objectives.

39. Source of Political Acrimony
• Violence has become a common feature of electioneering in many
states. This can be due to:
• Parties through their leaders
• Personalization power around the presidency and public believe that
it is necessary for the ethnic group from which they come to win the
presidency in order to ensure access to state resources and goods.

40. • The party in power would most likely bear the greatest responsibility
for using state resources to benefit itself and eroding the legitimacy
of the state as an impartial arbiter, and thus contributing to violence.
• Political parties failed to reform the Constitution, electoral laws, and
key institutions that have oversight authority over the electoral
process such as the Electoral Commission of Kenya.
• Party’s campaign platforms are overly divisive, lacked objectivity and
rationality.

41. Remedies by the Constitution 2010
• The Kenyan Constitution refers to political parties largely as it pertains to
their legislative and recruitment functions.
• To qualify for election to the National Assembly, the Constitution requires
that a person be nominated by a political party in the manner prescribed
by an Act of Parliament.
• Section 40 of the constitution stipulates that resignation from the
sponsoring party would imply a loss of a Parliamentary seat, reiterating the
importance of political parties in the country’s governance and law-making
process.