The 2017 election period was marked by political violence and security force responses that resulted in approximately 90-100 deaths during the campaign phase and additional fatalities during the post-election period. The violence was concentrated in opposition strongholds and reflected tensions between opposition supporters and government security forces, inter-community conflicts triggered by electoral polarization, and in some cases deliberate attacks by armed groups aligned with political camps. The 2017 electoral violence, while less severe than the 2007 post-election violence that had claimed nearly 1,000 lives, demonstrated persistent patterns of political violence connected to Kenya's electoral contests.
The campaign-phase violence occurred particularly in NASA-aligned regions including Kisumu, Siaya, Kisii, and other western counties. Violence in these areas took multiple forms: confrontations between opposition supporters and police forces, burning of government vehicles and facilities, and roadblocks erected by opposition supporters seeking to prevent campaigns by rival candidates. Security force responses to opposition mobilization sometimes escalated violence through use of live ammunition and through security operations that human rights observers characterized as excessive and disproportionate to the threat posed by protesters.
The most severe violence occurred in Kisumu, the major city in Luo-majority region and Raila Odinga's political stronghold. Tensions between opposition supporters conducting rallies and security forces attempting to control crowds resulted in multiple violent confrontations resulting in deaths and injuries. Human rights organizations documented instances wherein security forces fired live ammunition into crowds of unarmed protesters, resulting in civilian deaths. Opposition characterizations of these security operations as extrajudicial killings prompted human rights investigations and international attention.
The violence reflected broader patterns of electoral polarization wherein supporters of the competing political camps were mobilized into confrontational postures regarding the election outcome. The August 8 election results, announced as Kenyatta victory, triggered opposition protests and demands for result annulment. These protests, while initially focused on electoral contestation, sometimes escalated into broader expressions of opposition to the government. The government's security force responses, while officially justified as law enforcement operations restoring order, sometimes involved use of force that triggered human rights concerns.
The assassination of Chris Msando, the IEBC ICT director, occurred within this context of electoral violence and raised questions regarding political violence targeting electoral officials. The absence of definitive accountability for Msando's murder contributed to perceptions that political violence could occur with relative impunity when it advanced powerful political actors' interests.
Violence also manifested in inter-community dimensions, wherein electoral competition triggered community-level conflicts particularly in regions with ethnically-mixed populations. In some areas, electoral polarization exacerbated underlying tensions between communities, resulting in violence framed as communal conflict but triggered by electoral political mobilization. These inter-community incidents reflected patterns whereby electoral competition could activate communal identities and trigger violence organized along ethnic lines.
The post-August-8 violence phase was followed by a relative reduction in violence as opposition focus shifted to Supreme Court petition and subsequently to negotiation regarding the October re-run. However, tensions remained elevated throughout September and into October, with sporadic violent incidents and threats of escalation. The opposition boycott of the October 26 re-run effectively reduced the scale of opposition mobilization and associated violence.
International human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, documented the violence and issued reports characterizing security force conduct as excessive and calling for accountability investigations. These international reports attributed approximately 39 deaths directly to security force operations and dozens of additional deaths to inter-community violence triggered by electoral polarization. The reports recommended investigation and prosecution of security personnel responsible for unlawful use of force.
The Kenyatta government, for its part, characterized the violence as opposition-instigated unrest and defended security force operations as lawful law enforcement responses to vandalism, arson, and threats to public order. Government officials denied that excessive force had been used and suggested that security personnel had acted appropriately in the face of opposition violence and civil disorder. This government framing placed responsibility for violence on opposition actors rather than on security forces, a characterization disputed by human rights observers.
The 2017 electoral violence raised concerns about Kenya's trajectory regarding political development and the rule of law. While the violence was less severe than 2007, the persistence of electoral violence and the absence of accountability for security force conduct suggested ongoing challenges in constraining political violence and ensuring that democratic processes could proceed without bloodshed. The contrast between the Supreme Court's assertion of judicial authority to nullify elections and the continued impunity for electoral-related violence suggested inconsistency in Kenya's institutional responses to electoral crises.
See Also
2017 Election 2017 Election August 8 Vote 2017 Election NASA Coalition 2017 Election Chris Msando 2017 Election Jubilee Campaign
Sources
- Amnesty International. (2017). Kenya: Election Violence and Excessive Force by Security Personnel. Retrieved from https://www.amnesty.org/
- Human Rights Watch. (2017). Kenya Election Crisis: Deaths and Security Force Conduct. Retrieved from https://www.hrw.org/
- Kenya National Commission on Human Rights. (2017). Investigation into 2017 Electoral Violence. Retrieved from https://www.knchr.org/