Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta, Kenya’s 4th President

Jubilee Coalition presidential candidate Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta has been elected Kenya’s fourth president after defeating Raila Amollo Odinga of CORD Coalition in a hotly contested general election.

According to official results released by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), Kenyatta had won 50.07 percent of the vote to surpass the 50 percent plus one constitutional requirement mark in order to avoid a runoff.

The 51-year-old outgoing deputy prime minister garnered 6,173,433 votes out of a total of 12,338 million votes while CORD’s Raila garnered 5,340,546.  

The Commission pronounced Uhuru the President of the Republic of Kenya today afternoon.  

Uhuru’s Timeline

Google Unveils Kenya Elections Hub

Technology might not be a major issue in the country compared to other major challenges but Google use will help Kenyans track elections’ information through a hub. Google has employed the use of fusion tables among other Application Programming Interface (APIs) to ensure transparency and easy access of this information.

Speaking during the launch of the Kenya Elections Hub at the Sarova Stanley Hotel in Nairobi, Ory Okolloh, Google’s policy manager for Africa said that the organization’s role is to organize elections information and not to provide an opinion.

IEBC Releases Election Nomination Dates for Candidates and Parties

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has published the nomination dates for candidates and political parties on their website. In a notice dated December 28^th, 2012 the electoral body has confirmed that the next General Election will be held on March 4, 2013.

According to the notice, political parties wishing to participate in the polls must finalize the nominations of its candidate on or before the January 18^th, 2013 while the days for the nomination of political parties candidates and Independent candidates for the Presidential Election will be on January 29^th, 2013 and January 30^th, 2013.

IEBC Releases Report on Registered Voters

IEBC

Your Vote, Your Future 

According to the recently released report by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), 14.3 million eligible Kenyans were registered as voters in the exercise that took place from Monday, November 19 to Tuesday, December 18, 2012.

IEBC managed to register 14,337,399 Kenyans, representing 79.7 percent of the initial projected target of 18 million voters. 

IEBC Voter Registration to Start on Monday

‘Your Vote Your Future’

President Mwai Kibaki will on Monday, November 19^th 2012 launch the Biometric Voter Registration at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre.

The Independent Electoral Boundaries Commission (IEBC) expects to register nearly 18 million voters, after receiving the Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kits three weeks ago.

IEBC has identified 30,000 registration centres and they will be gazetted by next week. The registration process will take 30 days (November 19 – December 18) followed by 15 days of voter register verification.  

About 29,000 clerks have been trained on the operations of the kits, which capture both facial, and fingerprints of the voter.

Registration will take place each day (including weekends) from 8am to 5pm and all Kenyans are urged to register afresh at the nearest registration centres.