ASSESSMENTS
In the Run-Up to the March Election, Kenya Braces for Violence
Jan 23, 2013 | 15:00 GMT
Kenyans line up to vote in the city of Kisumu for primary elections.
TONY KARUMBA/AFP/Getty Images
Summary
With Kenya's presidential election a little more than a month away, authorities are hoping to avert a repeat of the violence that followed the 2007 election. Primaries last week led to violence in the western Nyanza province of Kenya, the epicenter of previous episodes of electoral unrest. Irregularities at the polls and the difficulties some candidates had in obtaining nomination certificates stoked worries about what might unfold during the March 4 presidential election.
A return to chronic political violence in Kenya, even if temporary, could disrupt the flow of investment and trade to Kenya and complicate Nairobi's bid to consolidate its position as the political and economic hub of East Africa. The electoral situation, however, seems less on edge than it was in 2007, and political violence should have less of an impact now than it did during 2007.
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