The official results of the 2013 presidential election announced by the IEBC on March 9, 2013, confirmed Uhuru Kenyatta as the winner with 50.07% of the presidential vote, a margin so narrow that it narrowly avoided triggering the 50% plus one threshold that would have necessitated a runoff election. Kenyatta received 6,331,295 votes out of a total valid vote of 12,637,762, edging past the 50% threshold by 49,644 votes. His running mate William Ruto was simultaneously elected Vice President-elect, making them the first ticket to be elected under the 2010 Constitution's reformed executive arrangement.
Raila Odinga, the CORD coalition's presidential candidate, finished second with 43.31% of the vote, securing 5,465,745 votes. While this represented a substantial national vote share and confirmed Raila's position as Kenya's most formidable opposition figure, the margin between the two leading candidates (6.76 percentage points) constituted Uhuru's winning margin and the basis upon which no runoff was necessary. The proximity of the threshold meant that a relatively small shift in voting patterns, particularly in contested counties, could have altered the result decisively. In this sense, the 2013 election represented one of Kenya's closest presidential contests, with the outcome hinging on marginal constituencies and voter blocks in the central highlands and Rift Valley.
The remaining candidates finished substantially behind the two leading contenders. Peter Kenneth, a businessman from Mt. Kenya region, secured 4.02% of the vote (507,399 votes), primarily drawing from educated urban voters skeptical of ethnic bloc voting. Martha Karua, an attorney and human rights advocate standing as an independent, received 0.29% of the vote. Musalia Mudavadi, a Luhya politician running on a centrist platform, secured 3.93% of the vote. The distribution of votes among these secondary candidates suggested that Kenyan voters were indeed consolidating around the two major coalitions, with limited space for alternative candidates or platforms.
The results reflected pronounced regional patterns, with Uhuru performing exceptionally well in Central Kenya (Kikuyu regions) and the Rift Valley (Kalenjin regions), where the Jubilee ticket achieved vote shares exceeding 75% in many counties. Raila's strongholds were concentrated in Luo regions (Siaya, Kisumu, Homa Bay), Luhya areas (Kakamega, Vihiga), and coastal regions (Mombasa, Lamu), where he achieved similar super-majorities. The 2013 results thus reflected the continuation of Kenya's ethnic voting patterns, wherein presidential voting followed regional and community lines with limited cross-ethnic support.
The presidential results occurred simultaneously with parliamentary elections. In the National Assembly contest, the Jubilee coalition won 167 of 290 elected seats, providing it a comfortable working majority and substantial control over legislative agenda-setting. CORD won 87 seats, an improvement over its 2010 position but still a significant deficit relative to Jubilee's dominance. Smaller parties and independent candidates secured the remaining seats, though most of these aligned informally with either coalition.
In the inaugural county gubernatorial elections, the Jubilee coalition's candidates won the majority of counties, though not uniformly across the country. Jubilee gubernatorial candidates performed exceptionally well in their stronghold regions (Central and Rift Valley) but faced strong challenges in CORD-aligned counties. The gubernatorial results were more dispersed than the presidential results, with 47 separate electoral contests producing more varied outcomes and allowing some governors from parties or regions not aligned with the presidential coalitions to succeed through local organization or personal popularity.
The 2013 results demonstrated that while Uhuru Kenyatta had achieved electoral victory, his margin was insufficient to claim a decisive mandate. The 50.07% threshold result meant that Jubilee had won the presidency but without commanding support that extended beyond its regional and ethnic base. The narrowness of the victory, combined with allegations of irregularity and statistical improbability, created space for Raila to mount a credible court challenge. The proximity of the result to the 50% threshold thus set the stage for the Supreme Court petition that would consume Kenyan politics for the subsequent month.
See Also
2013 Election 2013 Election Supreme Court Petition 2013 Election Regional Patterns 2013 Election IEBC 2013 Election ICC Factor 2013 Election Devolution Debut
Sources
- Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission. (2013). Official 2013 General Elections Results. Retrieved from https://www.iebc.or.ke/
- International Crisis Group. (2013). Kenya's 2013 Election: Too Fragile for Comfort. Retrieved from https://www.crisisgroup.org/
- Kagwanja, Peter and Mathuki, Ndung'u. (2013). The Two Faces of the Ballot: 2013 Elections and Prospects for Democracy in Kenya. Friedrich Ebert Foundation.