Election observation and monitoring in the midst of Kenyan elections: The case study of 1997 to 2013 elections

Abstract

African elections have been marred with electoral violence and this seems to be an oxymoron as elections should portray the will of the people. Because of this, election observation has been a growing phenomenon in democracy promotion during election periods. This paper intended to explore the role of election observers in the Kenyan elections of 1997, 2002, 2007 and 2013. The purpose of this research is to unpack whether the longevity of an election observation results to violence during the electoral cycle. The electoral cycle is the period in with the election process takes place and it involves three stages. These stages include the pre-electoral period, the electoral period and the post electoral period. When looking into the violence perpetuated during the electoral cycle the degrees of violence will be categorised into two categories, which are less violence, and more violence, which will be further explained. For the purposes of this research, the use of the concept electoral integrity will be employed, and an inductive research method will be used to build upon this conceptual framework.