Briefing: Kenya's elections 2002 - The dawning of a new era?

KENYANS WENT TO THE POLLS ON 27 DECEMBER 2002 to elect a new parliament and a new president. With Daniel arap Moi standing down after 24 years in office, a change in the tone and style of the political leadership was anticipated. But few could have imagined the full extent of the transformation that the polls would bring to the Kenyan political scene. The opposition alliance, the National Rainbow Coalition (NaRC), won a landslide victory that left the Kenya African National Union (KANU) clinging on to fewer than 70 seats in a parliament of 210 elected members. In the presidential election KANU's performance was even worse: Uhuru Kenyatta, Moi's chosen successor, was humbled by the massive vote for his NaRC rival, Mwai Kibaki. Exercising their hard-won democratic rights in the third multi-party elections since 1992, Kenyans therefore overwhelmingly rejected the party that has ruled over them for 40 years. In doing so they showed contempt for the wishes of former President Moi, and they refused to be cowed by the powerful political lineage of the Kenyatta family. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that commentators within Kenya have heralded this as the dawning of a new political era.