Clinton School assistant professor Dr. Warigia Bowman co-authored an article for Aljazeera about the recent presidential election in Kenya which she observed firsthand.
In the article, “Technology, transparency, and the Kenyan general election of 2013,” Bowman and co-author Brian Munyao Longwe, a Kenyan technology professor, discuss the election, its results and the impact of technology on the electoral process.
Bowman, who has extensively studied the politics and public policy of North Africa, started a blog about the election the she updated throughout her trip to Kenya.
Below is an excerpt from the Aljazeera article. Bowman will give a Clinton School lecture about the election on April 24 at 12:00 p.m.
It was a historic moment for the nation, the African continent and the world when the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) announced on March 9 that Uhuru Kenyatta, son of independence leader and first Kenyan President Jomo Kenyatta, had been elected the fourth president of Kenya.
Yet, today, almost three weeks later, the Kenyan presidential race is far from over. Raila Odinga, Kenyatta’s main political opponent, has challenged this result in front of Kenya’s Supreme Court. Odinga wants the court to nullify IEBC’s declaration of Kenyatta as president-elect. He also seeks to persuade the court that the whole electoral process leading to that declaration was null and void and that a fresh poll should be held. A core component of Odinga’s argument is that the technology failed on election day.
Responses