How Kenyan elections work
An independent, sourced guide to Kenya's general elections: who runs them, who can vote, which offices are elected, how the country is divided into electoral units, and how disputes are settled.
Kenya holds a general election on the second Tuesday in August every fifth year (Art. 101). Voters elect six offices on the same day — President, Governor, Senator, Woman Representative, Member of Parliament and Member of County Assembly — filling 1,882 seats. The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) conducts the election. The next one is on .
- Kenya 2027 General Election →Date, seats on the ballot and the legal deadlines around election day.
- The six elective positions →What each office does, how many seats there are, and who can stand.
- Counties, constituencies & wards →All 47 counties with every constituency and county assembly ward.
- Election glossary →Agent, presiding officer, returning officer, KIEMS and more, linked to the law.
- Election technology →IEBC systems under the Elections Act, and how campaign technology differs.
- Polling agent guide →Who appoints agents, the 48-hour rule and the result forms.
Who runs elections in Kenya
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) conducts or supervises elections to every elective office created by the Constitution (Art. 88). Its responsibilities include:
- continuous registration of voters and regular revision of the voters' roll;
- delimiting constituencies and wards;
- regulating how parties nominate candidates, and registering candidates;
- settling electoral disputes, including those about nominations, but not election petitions filed after results are declared;
- voter education; and
- facilitating the observation, monitoring and evaluation of elections.
VotePulse is not the IEBC. For official notices, registration and results, go to iebc.or.ke.
Who can vote
A person qualifies to register as a voter if they are an adult citizen, have not been declared to be of unsound mind, and have not been convicted of an election offence in the preceding five years. A citizen may be registered at only one registration centre (Art. 83).
What voters elect
| Office | Electoral unit | Seats |
|---|---|---|
| President | The whole country, voting in every constituency | 1 |
| Governor | One county | 47 |
| Senator | One county (each county is a single-member constituency) | 47 |
| Woman Rep | One county (each county is a single-member constituency) | 47 |
| MP | One constituency | 290 |
| MCA | One county assembly ward | 1,450 |
Electoral units: counties, constituencies and wards
Kenya is divided into 47 counties, 290 constituencies and 1,450 county assembly wards. The Constitution fixes the number of constituencies at 290 and requires the IEBC to review their names and boundaries at intervals of eight to twelve years; wards are reviewed periodically (Art. 89).
How winners are decided
- President: a candidate must win more than half of all votes cast and at least 25% of the votes in each of more than half of the counties. If no one does, a fresh election between the leading candidates is held within 30 days (Art. 138).
- Governor: the candidate with the greatest number of votes in the county is declared elected (Art. 180).
- Other seats: each constituency, county and ward elects a single member. The counting and declaration rules are set out in the Elections Act and IEBC regulations.
Election disputes
- A petition challenging a presidential election is filed in the Supreme Court within 7 days of the declaration of results. The court must hear and determine it within 14 days of filing, and its decision is final (Art. 140).
- Petitions about any other election must be filed within 28 days of the IEBC's declaration of results (Art. 87).
For campaign teams
If you are organising a campaign rather than researching one, start with the campaign planning timeline or see how the VotePulse platform organises field teams, polling agents and results for every ward.