KENYA
Parliamentary Chamber: National Assembly

ELECTIONS HELD IN 1992

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Chamber:
  National Assembly


Dates of elections / renewal (from/to):

  29 December 1992


Purpose of elections:

  Elections were held for all the elective seats in Parliament following the premature dissolution of this body on 28 October 1992. General elections had previously been held in March 1988.


Background and outcome of elections:

  President of the Republic Daniel arap Moi dissolved the National Assembly on 28 October 1992 (five months before the expiry of its term) in preparation for the first multiparty elections in 26 years. Other political parties apart from the formerly dominant Kenya African National Union (KANU) had been authorized in December 1991. The polling was held simultaneously with presidential and local government elections.

The run-up to this poll was marked by accusations and counter-accusations between the main parties and wide-scale intimidation and harassment of opposition candidates against a background of ethnic violence and economic crisis (probably the worst in the country’s post-independence history). The opposition claimed that President Moi and KANU were doing their utmost to stay in power. Initially scheduled for 7 December 1992, the elections finally took place on 29 December after a High Court ruling granted a request by the opposition to extend the candidate-nomination deadline. Apart from the ruling KANU party, the other front runners in the elections were the Democratic Party (DP), the Forum for the Restoration of Democracy (FORD-Kenya) and FORD-Asili, a splinter group of the former. The opposition’s failure to unite foreshadowed a probable victory of KANY. A total of 713 candidates were in contention, with FORD-Kenya fielding the most after KANU.

Polling was peaceful and massive after months of acrimonious and often violent campaigning. The results reflected voting along tribal and regional patterns, with Nairobi, Nyanza and the Central province voting overwhelmingly for the opposition. Although KANU retained a majority in Parliament, at least one-half of the incumbents (all KANU), including 15 senior Cabinet members, lost their seats. Altogether KANU obtained 100 seats as against 31 each for FORD-Kenya and FORD-Asili and 23 for the DP. President Moi – in office since 1978 – for his part won re-election for another five-year term.

Alleging widespread fraud and irregularities by the Government (shortage of ballots and other election material, and intimidation of voters in opposition strongholds), which accusations were backed by some of the approximately 100 foreign observers, the three main opposition parties initially decided not to take up their parliamentary seats but finally did so following pressure form the international community and at home.

On 3 January 1993, President Moi announced his new Cabinet, with George Saitoti as Vice President and Minister of Planning and National Development.

STATISTICS
Round no 1 (29 December 1992): Elections results  
Number of registered electors 7,900,366
Voters 5,486,768 (69.4%)
Blank or invalid ballot papers 61,173
Valid votes 5,425,595

Round no 1: Distribution of seats  
Political Group Total
Kenya African National Union (KANU) 100
Forum for the Restoration of Democracy (FORD-Kenya) 31
Forum for the Restoration of Democracy (FORD-Asili) 31
Democratic Party (DP) 23
Kenya Social Congress (KSC) 1
Kenya National Congress (KNC) 1
Party of independent Candidates of Kenya (PICK) 1

Comments:
  Elected members only. Subsequently, the President nominated 12 members, all belonging to KANU, which thus raised its total to 112 seats.

Distribution of seats according to sex:  
Men: 196
Women: 6


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Copyright © 1992 Inter-Parliamentary Union