Democracy assitance & elections news from the Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening (CEPPS)
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Election Profile:

Flag of Kenya Source for election date

At stake in this Referendum:

  • Whether to ratify a new constitution drafted by a Committee of Experts and approved by Parliament on April 3, 2010.

Description of government structure:

  • Chief of State: President Mwai KIBAKI
  • Head of Government: Prime Minister Raila ODINGA
  • Assembly: Kenya has a unicameral National Assembly (Bunge) with 224 seats.

Description of electoral system:

  • The President is elected by qualified plurality vote to serve a 5-year term.*
  • In the National Assembly (Bunge), 210 members are elected by plurality vote in single-member constituencies to serve 5-year terms, 12 members are appointed by the president to serve 5-year terms and 2 members are reserved ex officio.***

* In addition to winning a nationwide plurality, the winning candidate must have won 25 percent of votes in any 5 of the 8 provinces, and she must also have won the parliamentary election for her own constituency.

*** Appointed members are nominated by the political parties. These 12 seats are allocated among the parties in proportion to their nationwide vote share

Electoral Requirements

  • Fifty percent of total votes cast and 25 percent of votes cast in five of the countries' eight provinces.

Population and number of registered voters:

  • Population: 40,046,566 (July 2010 est.)
  • Registered Voters: 12,616,627 (August 2010 )

Last Updated on 08/12/2010

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