Kenya - Elections 1992-2002
In June 1982, the National Assembly amended the constitution, making Kenya officially a one-party state. Two months later, young military officers in league with some opposition elements attempted to overthrow the government in a violent but ultimately unsuccessful coup.
In response to street protests and donor pressure, parliament repealed the one-party section of the constitution in December 1991. In 1992, independent Kenya's first multiparty elections were held. Divisions in the opposition contributed to Moi's retention of the presidency in 1992 and again in the 1997 election.
Human Rights Watch reported that in the first multiparty elections of 1992, there was widespread politically motivated ethnic violence, especially in the contested Rift Valley province. Hundreds of people were killed and hundreds of thousands of potential opposition voters were effectively disenfranchised when they had to flee from their homes. The clashes are believed to have been instigated by powerful individuals within KANU, who took advantage of a long history of land disputes in the region to stoke tribal hostilities. The politicians promised members of the Kalenjin, Maasai, and other pro-KANU tribes that they would install a policy of “majimboism,” which roughly translates as federalism, but is in fact a form of ethnic cleansing. The number of political detentions fell, small presses began publishing critical views of the government, and members of Parliament began to speak and vote more freely.
Human Rights Watch reported that in the second multiparty elections of 1997, Moi again won easily against a fragmented opposition. Again, KANU politicians manipulated ethnic tensions to intimidate and disperse ethnic groups perceived to support the opposition. On the coast near Mombasa, KANU politicians engineered an organized “cleansing” before the election to evict Kikuyu and Luo migrants. Armed gangs killed hundreds of people in politically instigated attacks on homes and businesses. Similar clashes recurred in Rift Valley province.
Following the 1997 election Kenya experienced its first coalition government as KANU was forced to cobble together a majority by bringing into government a few minor parties.
In 2002, some KANU ministers formed a breakaway faction within KANU known as the Rainbow Coalition. led by Raila Odinga, former head of the largely Luo National Development Party. In October 2002, the Rainbow Coalition abandoned KANU and joined the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) opposition party. Thirteen opposition parties, representing many different geographical regions and all of Kenya’s major tribes, came together to form the National Alliance Party of Kenya (NAK). In October 2002, NAK and the LDP merged to form a super-opposition alliance known as the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC), with Democratic Party Chairman Mwai Kibaki, also a Kikuyu, as its single presidential candidate, and Odinga as candidate for prime minister.
In December 2002, Kenyans held democratic and open elections, which were judged free and fair by international observers. The NARC candidate, Mwai Kibaki, was elected the country's third President. President Kibaki received 62% of the vote, and NARC also won 59% of the parliamentary seats. Kibaki, a Kikuyu from Central province, had served as a member of parliament since Kenya's independence in 1963. He served in senior posts in both the Kenyatta and Moi governments, including Vice President and Finance Minister.
The 2002 elections marked an important turning point in Kenya's democratic evolution as the presidency and the parliamentary majority passed from the party that had ruled Kenya since independence to a coalition of new political parties.
Under the first presidency of Mwai Kibaki, the NARC coalition promised to focus its efforts on generating economic growth, improving and expanding education, combating corruption, and rewriting the constitution. The first two goals were largely met, but progress toward the second two goals was limited. President Kibaki's cabinet from 2002-2005 consisted of members of parliament from allied parties and others recruited from opposition parties who joined the cabinet without the approval of their party leaderships. By 2003, internal conflicts disrupted the NARC government.
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