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ELECTIONS IN 2007

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Parliament name National Assembly Structure of parliament Unicameral BACKGROUND Dates of election / renewal (from/to) 27 December 2007 Purpose of elections Elections were held for all the elective seats in the National Assembly on the normal expiry of the members' term of office. On 22 October 2007 President Mwai Kibaki dissolved the parliament and called parliamentary and presidential elections for 27 December. The government had proposed in July 2007 to create 90 new seats (including 50 reserved seats for women) in the National Assembly. However the bill was declared to have lapsed on 15 August after the National Assembly failed to vote on it. The 2007 elections were thus held for 210 directly-elected seats as in December 2002. Prior to the 2002 elections the then ruling party the Kenyan African National Union (KANU) had split due to a row over its presidential candidate. A new political force National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) emerged and won 125 of the 210 seats in the parliamentary elections promising constitutional reforms and an end to corruption. The KANU took 64 seats. The other seats went to small parties. In December 2002 Mr. Kibaki (NARC) became the country’s third president and formed a government including different components of his coalition. Under Mr. Kibaki’s presidency the country introduced free primary school education and experienced steady economic growth reaching 6 per cent per year although income inequality remained a major social problem. In November 2005 a proposed revision of the constitution was rejected by referendum. Mr. Raila Odinga the Minister for Roads who had led the "no" campaign was removed from the government along with other members of his Liberal Democratic Party. The dismissed ministers and their allies then formed the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) named after the oranges that had symbolized the "no" to the draft constitution. In August 2007 former foreign minister Mr. Kalonzo Musyoka broke away from the ODM to form the Orange Democratic Movement-Kenya (ODM-K). In all 2 547 candidates from 117 political parties including 269 women stood for the parliamentary elections. On 16 September 2007 President Kibaki announced that he would be the presidential candidate of a coalition called the Party of National Unity (PNU). Some candidates ran under the PNU banner while others ran as candidates of its component parties. Mr. Kibaki reportedly had wide support among the Kikuyu ethnic community (the largest ethnic group in the country accounting for about 22 per cent of the 34 million inhabitants) as well as in the northern and eastern provinces. The PNU manifesto promised to create more jobs and new factories and pledged to deal with poverty and insecurity. The ODM presidential candidate Mr. Odinga criticized President Kibaki for not taking sufficient measures to tackle corruption and accused him of manipulating the electoral process. The ODM promised to deal with income inequalities and tackle corruption. It also pledged to draft a new constitution that would give more power to regional government. Mr. Odinga is from the Luo community (comprising about 13 per cent of the population mainly in western Kenya) but reportedly had support across ethnic groups. Although the Electoral Commission did not release official figures turnout was reportedly high among the 14.2 million registered voters. Observers from the European Union (EU) and the East African Community (EAC) said the presidential elections were flawed citing among others the example of one area where voter turnout was recorded at 115 per cent. In the parliamentary elections the ODM won 99 seats becoming the largest party in the newly-elected National Assembly and its ally the NARC took three. The PNU and its allies had 78 seats in all (see note). A total of 80 members (38 per cent) of the outgoing legislature were re-elected. Subsequently President Kibaki increased the pro-presidential presence in parliament (see note) to 92 out of the 207 seats endorsed by the Electoral Commission to date by making an agreement with the breakaway ODM-K. On 30 December the Electoral Commission announced that Mr. Kibaki had been re-elected as President with 4 584 721 votes while Mr. Odinga took 4 352 993. Mr. Kibaki was immediately sworn in and called for national reconciliation. Mr. Odinga said the presidential elections had been rigged and demanded that fresh elections be held. Opposition supporters led street protests and violence rapidly spread across the country. More than 1 000 people were killed in post-election violence. On 13 January 2008 the police announced that the death toll due to post-election violence had reached 693. The United Nations estimated that some 250 000 people had fled their homes. Initial efforts by the United States and the African Union to resolve the crisis failed to bear fruit. On 25 January 2008 under the mediation of former UN Secretary-General Mr. Kofi Annan President Kibaki and Mr. Odinga met for the first time since the elections. On 28 February they finally signed a peace deal whereby Mr. Odinga would assume the post of Prime Minister (which then was not provided for in the Constitution) once the deal was approved by parliament. At the first session of the newly-elected National Assembly on 15 January Mr. Kenneth Marende backed by the ODM was elected as the new Speaker in the third round of voting ahead of the government-backed outgoing Speaker Mr. Francis ole Kaparo. Note: The PNU-led Coalition at the first session of the new legislature included the following parties. Party of National Unity (PNU): 43 seats Orange Democratic Movement-Kenya (ODM-K): 16 seats Kenyan African National Union (KANU): 14 seats SAFINA: 5 seats National Rainbow Coalition-Kenya (NARC-K): 4 seats Forum for the Restoration of Democracy-People (FORD-P): 3 seats SISI KWA SISI Party of Kenya (SKSPK): 2 seats Democratic Party (DP): 2 seats Forum for the Restoration of Democracy-ASILI (FORD-A): 1 seat MAZINGIRA Green Party of Kenya (MGPK): 1 seat Forum for the Restoration of Democracy-Kenya (FORD-K): 1 seat STATISTICS Voter turnout Round no 1 27 December 2007 Number of registered electors Voters Blank or invalid ballot papers Valid votes 14'296'180 Notes Distribution of seats Round no 1 Political Group Total Orange Democratic Movement Party of Kenya (ODM) 99 Party of National Unity (PNU) 43 Orange Democratic Movement-Kenya (ODM-K) 16 Kenyan African National Union (KANU) 14 SAFINA 5 National Rainbow Coalition-Kenya (NARC-K) 4 National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) 3 Forum for the Restoration of Democracy-People (FORD-P) 3 SISI KWA SISI Party of Kenya (SKSPK) 2 Democratic Party (DP) 2 Party of Independent Candidates of Kenya (PICK) 2 CHAMA CHA UMA (CCU) 2 New Forum for the Restoration of Democracy-Kenya (NFK) 2 Peoples Party of Kenya (PPK) 1 Kenya African Democratic Development Union (KADDU) 1 United Democratic Party of Kenya (UDM) 1 National Labour Party (NLP) 1 Kenya African Democratic Union ASILI (KADU-ASILI) 1 KENDA 1 Forum for the Restoration of Democracy-ASILI (FORD-A) 1 MAZINGIRA Greens Party of Kenya (MGPK) 1 Forum for the Restoration of Democracy-Kenya (FORD-K) 1 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) 1 Distribution of seats according to sex Men Women Percent of women 203 21 9.38% Distribution of seats according to age Distribution of seats according to profession Comments Sources: - http://www.eck.or.ke/ - National Assembly (03.06.2008) Fifteen women were directly elected while six others were appointed.

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