Briefing Paper

Opportunities and Challenges of Ensuring Stability in Kenya’s 2017 General Elections

This Policy and Practice Brief (PPB) examines the prospect for a peaceful election in Kenya. It offers insights on what can be done to mitigate any possible election-related violence with respect to the state of readiness of election management bodies (EMB), the Supreme Court and the government to deliver credible elections. This paper examines and brings to light challenges that could potentially trigger election-related violence, with the view to make recommendations on how to mobilize key stakeholders to invest in supporting local and under utilized institutions or existing processes and practices capable of mitigating election-related violence. Some of these stakeholders are critical in ensuring the identification of conflict triggers, forewarning about them and preventing their escalation to national crises and conflict. Civil society organisations (CSOs), regional and international organisations should, in the build-up to the 8 August election, effectively co-ordinate their pre-assessment field visits to Kenya so as to identify potential options to avert the likelihood of election-related violence in the country.