Cross-posted with the Google Africa Blog The Internet is increasingly playing an important role in transforming the way citizens participate and engage in the elections across Africa, as we saw last year in Senegal and Ghana . Next it’s Kenya’s turn. March 4th 2013 will be a pivotal moment as Kenyan voters go to the polls to decide the country’s future. This will be Kenya’s first general election under the new constitution and following the post-election violence of 2007-2008. Expectations are high both for a peaceful transition and a deepening of democracy under the new constitution. Voters are already turning to the internet for information: according to Google Zeitgeist , the Independent Boundaries and Electoral Commission was the top trending search in Kenya in 2012, and all the major candidates have a strong presence across the various social media outlets.
We want to help empower Kenyans with accessible and useful information during the upcoming elections so we’re launching a number of initiatives to make it easy for voters to find information and make their voices heard. We have partnered with the Electoral Commission to provide open source technology powering their online voter tools , including online registration confirmation and over SMS, mapping the polling stations, and a developer API . We are also training local journalists, civil society and political parties on digital tools for elections, and partnering with local media organizations to support the use of Google+ Hangouts for interviews with candidates .
G+Hangout on GhettoFM with MikeSonko who is vying for Senator
Our Kenya Elections Hub is a portal where voters, journalists and campaigns can track news and trends about the election. The Kenyan election will be followed both locally and globally in 2013. As we head to voting day we will continue to work to keep Kenyans more informed about this critical process.
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Ory Okolloh, Google Policy and Government Relations Manager, Sub-Saharan Africa
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