Kenya’s institutions face a major test in the 2027 General Election, IEBC Chairman Erastus Ethekon has warned, as preparations for the polls formally begin following the gazettement of the electoral calendar.
Ethekon said the country had now entered the election period, setting in motion a series of activities and deadlines that will lead to the August 2027 elections.
He spoke on Wednesday during a High-Level National Election Security Roundtable Consultative Forum organised by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
The IEBC chairman said the commission had already given the country a roadmap showing key electoral activities and statutory deadlines, including requirements for state officers planning to contest elective positions and timelines for political parties to conduct their primaries.
According to Ethekon, the publication of the electoral calendar also marks the start of preparations to deal with security threats, prevent violence and manage conflicts that could emerge during the election period.
“The gazettement of the electoral field, of course, triggers a series of activities, including our preparations to handle the election-related security matters, violence prevention, and conflict prevention around this period, because it’s important for us to have a peaceful and conducive environment for us to do our job, which is to facilitate Kenyans to exercise their rights to make choices on who will lead them going forward beyond 2027,” he said.
Ethekon stressed that securing the elections was not the responsibility of the IEBC alone, saying several state agencies have roles to play under Kenya’s constitutional system.
He listed the Interior Ministry, National Police Service, Directorate of Criminal Investigations, National Cohesion and Integration Commission, Office of the Registrar of Political Parties and Communications Authority among the institutions expected to contribute to election security.
“We alone, as IEBC, cannot carry out this function in isolation, so the responsibility has been dispersed and assigned to the various institutions of the state within our constitutional architecture,” he said.
The focus on election security comes as Kenya continues to draw lessons from past polls, particularly the 2007-08 post-election violence that exposed the dangers of ethnic mobilisation, political incitement and gaps in early warning and response systems.
The experience led to the development of the Election Security Arrangement Programme (ESAP), which brings together institutions involved in preventing and responding to threats linked to elections.
“The ESAP did not start yesterday. The ESAP started this election security arrangement program started way back after the post-election violence of 2007,” he said.
While the 2022 General Election recorded fewer deaths linked to the polls, security concerns remained in parts of the country.
The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights recorded seven election-related deaths in 2022, compared with 99 in 2017. It also reported insecurity in Lamu, Garissa, Marsabit, Baringo, Elgeyo Marakwet, Mandera, Nakuru, Turkana and West Pokot counties, pointing to continued challenges around safe political participation.
The size of the electoral exercise also means extensive preparations will be required ahead of 2027. During the 2022 election, the IEBC registered 22,120,458 voters across 46,229 polling stations, while voter turnout stood at 64.77 per cent. More than 510,000 election officials were deployed to oversee the exercise.
Ethekon also placed the media at the centre of efforts to keep the electoral environment peaceful, warning information actors against spreading false or misleading content.
“The media must promote responsible information sharing or dissemination, and must desist from falling into this trap of misinformation and disinformation and malinformation, and in the context of elections, the work we do borders on national security,” he said.
He further defended the independence of the electoral commission, saying its work is guided strictly by the Constitution and electoral laws.
Ethekon said public discussions around the commission should not create the impression that its leadership can alter legal requirements at will.
“Our elections are highly regulated by law, and there’s nowhere the law allows even the chairman of IBC to put a comma anywhere where the law does not say we should not put a comma or a full stop. So our independence is guaranteed by the constitution, and we shall be guided like that.”
The IEBC chairman said the commission would work with the Judiciary and other institutions to enforce the electoral code of conduct and hold political actors accountable.
He said the joint effort would be important in protecting democratic rights, preventing violence and maintaining public confidence as the country moves towards the 2027 General Election.