Preliminary statement on Kenya's election in collaboration with The Carter Center Election Expert Mission

Prior to Kenya's Presidential election in August 2022, PI travelled to Nairobi to collaborate with The Carter Center as part of their pre-election assessment team. This is the preliminary report resulting from that election expert mission.

Key points
  • The Kenyan elections took place on 9 August 2022, with the results being announced on 15 August and confirmed by the Kenyan Supreme Court on 5 September
  • PI joined the Carter Center in Kenya as part of a pre-election assessment team in July 2022 to identify and explore data protection issues around the elections
  • This preliminary statement provides an insight into our upcoming in-depth analysis of the implications of the Kenyan Data Protection Act for Kenyan elections as part of The Carter Center's full report on the Kenyan election.

 

News & Analysis
Smartphone being inserted in ballot box

Privacy International collaborated with the Carter Center as part of a pre-election assessment team focussing on the use of technology in the run up to and during the Kenyan election which took place 9 August.

In the context of this pre-election assessment, PI travelled to Nairobi between 4th-10th July 2022 in order take a deeper look at issues connected to voting technologies being used in the Kenyan elections with a particular focus on the implementation of the Data Protection Act.

PI first collaborated with the Carter Center during its 2020 election observation mission in Myanmar.The Carter Center is a US-based NGO that has been invited to observe 113 Elections in 39 Countries since 1989. The Carter Center has been observing elections in Kenya since 2002.

In this collaboration with the Carter Center, PI sought to incorporate and operationalise privacy and data protection issues into election observation methodology. Our contributions to the preliminary statement are therefore informed by our Elections Checklist.

The preliminary report is attached and will be followed by a full report.

Background:

This project is part of PI’s work on Data and Elections.

In 2019 PI published “Technology, data and elections: A ‘checklist’ on the election cycle” in order to assist election observers update their working practices to ensure that personal data and digital technology are used to support, rather than undermine, participation in the democratic process and the conduct of free and fair elections.

See The Carter Center’s election observation factsheet for more information on how missions are conducted.