Measuring the Quality of Kenya's March 2013 Elections

Following the outbreak of severe violence over the 2007 vote results, the success of Kenya’s democratic transition was riding on the quality of the March 2013 general election. The 2007 violence prompted wide-ranging reform of the political system, and electoral institutions in particular. This paper examines the quality of the election, relying on a new methodology—the Election Administration System Index (EASI). Utilizing an expert-based survey, EASI allows a quantitative evaluation of the Kenya vote and broadly serves to advance a process of measuring election administration for comparative study. This examination finds that election administration was weakest in the preparatory period leading up to Election Day, generally fair during the vote, and afterwards problematic with respect to vote tallying. With additional applications in future elections, I find, EASI can provide a means of measuring the progress of Kenya's election administration.