Oped: Safeguarding Kenya’s Electoral freedoms in the Digital Age

Ory Okolloh, a member of the Kofi Annan Commission on Elections and Democracy in the Digital Age, and Abdulmalik Sugow, a legal researcher and consultant, co-authored an opinion piece on the topic of safeguarding Kenya’s electoral freedoms in the digital age. The article was originally published in Business Daily Africa on the 5th of January 2022.

“Preparations to safeguard the credibility of Kenya’s upcoming 2022 general elections are underway. Relative to previous election cycles, stakeholders have increased their focus on the role played by digital technologies in various democratic processes and for a good reason.

From a more-connected- than-ever voter populace to mis- and disinformation, to instances of incitement to violence, networked technologies — due to their instantaneous and peer-to-peer nature —have amplified harms facing democracies. Continue Reading >

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Elections have become almost universal since the end of the Cold War. Yet in many countries where elections are held, freedom and democracy are actually in retreat. Intended as mechanisms for the peaceful arbitration of political rivalries, they frequently become flashpoints for political violence. At the core of these paradoxes are elections without integrity. All too often, elections serve merely to give autocratic regimes a veneer of legitimacy. But elections without integrity cannot provide the winners with legitimacy, the losers with security and the public with confidence in their leaders and institutions. This makes polities fragile as it encourages disgruntled groups to find other, less constructive, channels for the expression of their discontent. The Kofi Annan Foundation and Electoral Integrity Initiative advise countries on how to strengthen the integrity and legitimacy of their electoral processes and avoid election-related violence. Looking beyond technical requirements, they focus on creating conditions for legitimate elections, making it possible to govern peaceably in a climate of trust.

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Oped: Safeguarding Kenya’s Electoral freedoms in the Digital Age

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