ABSTRACT
Elections in Kenya have become an institutionalized and distinguishing feature of national political life. This chapter argues that the most significant product of the Kenyan electoral experience and the primary reason why elections have become an institutionalized feature of Kenyan political life is that the process has resulted in the establishment of a series of patron-client networks that tie key elements of the Kenyan peasantry. Kenya's electoral experience can be divided into two periods: the first, from 1957 through 1966, and the second phase from 1969 to the present. The chapter is focused the second period, because it, inter alia, holds out the prospect for the emergence of regimes that are more responsive and accountable to the populations they rule. Jomo Kenyatta replaced KANU with two very different institutions, one of them was an institution in the process of formation—a network of patron-client relationships which tied together cabinet members and other political figures to the grass roots.
