Until 1963 Kenya was a colony of Great Britain. After negotiation with the British since 1957, the British allowed elections in 1963. Jomo Kenyatta was the first elected president of Kenya in 1964. The first election system was a single-party system, in which there’s one person who has the right to form the government. All other parties are either outlawed or allowed to take only a limited and controlled participation in elections. In Kenya the “Kenya African National Union” (KANU) suppressed the political parties who wanted to join the government. KANU reigned the country for a long time, even after president Kenyatta died in 1978. KANU made an amendment to the constitution in 1982 which made Kenya a one party system. In 1990 there were major political demonstrations in Kenya against the one-party system. Due to these demonstrations the KANU bowed to the public pressure and began reviewing this electoral system. In 1992 the amendment that had maintained a single party system was revoked, bringing Kenya to a multi-party system. This change did not immediately change the political situation, but finally in 2002 the KANU lost a part of their power to the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) after the elections on 27 December and the politic in Kenya was official a multi-party system. The NARC was formed in 2002 as an union of all opposition parties to make a chance against the big party KANU.
In the run-up to the election in December 2007 there were two main parties, the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) led by Raila Odinga and the Party of National Unity (PNU), arised from the NARC, led by Mwai Kibaki. The election proved to be the closest fought in the multi-party era. The official exit polls suggested that the ODM party would be the biggest party, but in the end Mwai Kibaki (PNU) was announced as the winner by the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK). The opposition candidate Raila Odinga rejected the result outright. The re-election of Kibaki resulted in serious violence between rival ethnic groups, leaving 1300 people killed and an estimated 600.000 displaced.
To find a solution for this violent election Kofi Annan was asked by the African Union to lead a panel of Eminent African Personalities to help negotiate a power-sharing deal between Odinga and Kibaki. The two Presidential candidates signed a power-sharing agreement called the National Accord and Reconciliation Act, which established the office of the Prime Minister and created a collation government between the PNU and the ODM. Kibaki maintained the position of president and Odinga became the prime minister.
An important recent development is that the constitution of 1963 is replaced by a new modern one. During a referendum in August 2010 67 percent of the people voted for this new constitution. In this constitution is a separation of powers established, the power is separated in executive, legislature and judiciary power. It contains also better right for the citizen in Kenya and a revision of the electing-procedure of the president.
A president can now sit for a maximum of two terms, so Kibaki is not allowed to be a candidate in the next elections in 2013. There is also a second voting round if the two top candidates can't get the majority of the votes in the first round.The new citizens rights makes an end to gender discrimination in relation to the right of a woman to pass citizenship to her children or spouse and an end to the prohibition on dual citizenship and the grounds on which citizenship may be taken away are restricted.
The current political situation is very tense, in particular the situation with the terrorist group Al-Shabaab. This Islamitic terrorists from Somalia were involved in several kidnappings in Kenya the past few years and recently there was a bombing in Nairobi. So this gives a lot of tension in the Kenyan government and in the whole society.