"Élections au Kenya: un "geek" à la présidence?"

February 28, 2013

French Article Translation of the Week

"Élections au Kenya: un "geek" à la présidence?"

"À l'heure de désigner le prochain chef de l'État, le Kenya prépare ses élections générales du 4 mars dans l'effervescence et dans la crainte de nouvelles violences. Mais au-delà des meetings qui ont animé le pays, la campagne a aussi mobilisé Internet. Réseaux sociaux, sites, débats en direct via YouTube... La Toile est devenu un passage obligé de la vie politique kényane."

"In preparation for the designation of the next Head of State, Kenya prepares its general elections on March 4 in the excitement and the fear of further violence. But beyond the meetings that animated the country, the campaign also mobilized the Internet. Social networking sites, live discussion via YouTube ... The Web has become an obligatory feed for Kenyan politics."

This article has been translated from French. Click here to read the original on version on JeuneAfrique.com.

In preparation for the designation of the next Head of State, Kenya prepares its general elections on March 4 in the excitement and the fear of further violence. But beyond the meetings that animated the country, the campaign also mobilized the Internet. Social networking sites, live discussion via YouTube ... The Web has become an obligatory feed for Kenyan politics.

All potential candidates have participated in the exercise and the best in this field show impressive scores for an African election. On Twitter, Prime Minister Raila Odinga, the former Justice Minister Martha Karua, a lawyer and activist for human rights, and Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta have respectively 111 060, 122 198, and 101 348 subscribers.

On Facebook, they attain the same heights. Aside from Raila Odinga (60,285 fans), the number of fans on Mark Zuckerberg's social network outnumbers Twitter's with 237,396 people for Martha Karua, and Uhuru Kenyatta claiming the spot of the most "liked" candidate at 383,179 fans.

"Each of you has the power to build Kenya"

The goal: reach the voters by informing them of their salient role in the electoral process but also attract the diaspora whose financial donations fuel the campaign budgets. Throughout the day, candidates post and tweet to announce a meeting, or to restart a fundraiser.

Martha Karua has invested in the Web to attract donations with a website and an initiative called "Simama Na Mama" ("Give to My Campaign") and its hashtag "#SinamaNaMama".

It's Raining Hashtags

The stakes are high as Kenya stands as one of the bridgeheads of the Internet and social networks in Africa. As the country hopes to create 50,000 jobs by 2017 in the area of information technology and communication, the Communications Commission of Kenya estimated that twelve million people today have access to the internet. For a population of a little more than forty million people, and especially to an electorate of 14.3 million people officially registered on the lists, that is a significant number.

If there are an estimated two million Kenyan users on Facebook, it is more difficult to quantify their presence on Twitter. Nevertheless, there are countless hashtags related to the upcoming presidential election: # KenyaDebates, #KenyaDebate2013, # KEDebate13, #Debate254, #KenyaDecides, #Siasa2013, #Debate254 ... The highlight of this craze for social networking being the debate which featured eight candidates. A true viral success. The themes were chosen in consultation with users, who proposed nearly 5,000 questions. The event has even eclipsed the resignation of the pope as the favorite subjects of Kenyan internet users on Twitter the day of the debate, especially in Nairobi.

"One way to control the democratic process"

Internet heavyweights have also not failed to ride the wave. YouTube has created a special channel devoted to the election; Live debates, of which the second edition will be held on February 23, over Twitter hashtags connected to the most popular statements from past candidates ... Since April 2011, the Internet has indeed experienced the cover of many African elections.

"We worked on Nigeria, Senegal, Cameroon and Ghana," explains Markham Nolan, editor at Storyful, Google partner on his blog, "and we saw each of these countries use amateur videos as a way to control the democratic process."

A point of view shared by Ory Okolloh in charge of political relations at Google Sub-Saharan Africa:

"We encourage voters to see that they are not merely observers but must participate and engage in the political process in a democratic way, through tools such as YouTube, Google Maps and more," Nolan said.

After the bloody events that followed the last elections in Kenya in 2008, this country is probably the best candidate experience story.

"The 2013 elections in Kenya will be the most watched in the history of the country and, for the first time, with YouTube, we can attract the attention of the world in real time," enthuses Markham Nolan.

Millions of eyes are trained on Kenya in hopes of avoiding the chaos that followed after the previous election.