Elections 2013: Battle for On-line Votes – Jubilee Alliance has the upper hand

The Jubilee Alliance campaign secretariat has in the last month proved to be better organized in terms of well managed on-line presence. In the last one week creative juices seems to be emanating more from this coalition which seems to have put their all on winning this elections.

The other notable observations are that this campaign seems to have an appreciation of design thinking. This alliance was the first to incorporate the voting sticker to their posters.

Crafted campaign with element of civic education

In the country side the campaign has come up with clear targeted billboards such as this one below which targets votes in agricultural production areas.

Billboards in Agricultural heartland of Kenya

Election 2013 Watch: ‘Tyranny by Numbers’ Presentation by Political Scientist Ngunyi Mutahi and its Aftermath

Ngunyi Mutahi was the talk of town this week because of his presentation which asserts that Jubilee coalition will win March 4 elections based on support from their ethnic folks.

Mutahi Ngunyi is a popular political commentator who can be equated to either Karl Rove or Dick Morris of the US. Mutahi espoused his hypothesis in which he quips the elections we're won in December 18, 2012. That is the date IEBC finished the voter registration exercise. This hypothesis gives Jubilee alliance a win in the first round based on the strength of Kikuyu and Kalenjin votes. 

Voter registration as at December 18, 2012. [Source: IEBC]

This analysis was the basis of this interview between Sakaja Johnson the head of TNA party [Uhuru Kenyatta’s party in Jubilee coalition] and Dr. Adams Oloo [Political Scientist and head dept. of Political Science at University of Nairobi – my former teacher I must add]

This analysis has resulted to a number of other ‘ analysis’ by political pundits. According to Makodingo the CORD Coalition a win in round one. 

Makodingo Analysis 

Makodingo is a political consultant affiliated to the CORD coalition. He came up with this set of numbers [below] that give the PM a win in the first round with a 50.5% of the votes cast IF the turnout is above 70%.

How Raila and Kalonzo Could Win in The First Round from MAKODINGO

This analysis can be considered to be a rebutt to Mutahi Ngunyi’s ‘tyranny by numbers’ hypothesis by the PM aides. 

Based on

Projected voter turn out per region and per from MAKODINGO

Nomination Briefs: Meet Sonko, Mike Sonko the TNA Senator Aspirant causing ripples in Nairobi

Meet Mike Sonko

Mike Sonko has become something of an urban legend in Nairobi following his dramatic entry into the 10^th parliament through a by-election in Makadara.  He has since then transformed the political est. into two era's Before Sonko and After Sonko. These days Sonko is usually in the news for all the obvious reasons which range from the good and to the damn right ugly.

Sonko has he is fondly known has mastered the art of being in people’s minds. Together with Embakasi legislature Ferdinand Waititu have made a name for themselves by claiming to fight for the common man and going full throttle to show this in stunts which are broadcasted by Kenyan Media houses.

What is interesting about these two politicians is the on-line buzz they command. To get a feel of the magnitude. Mike Sonko official Facebook page has over one hundred and fifty eight thousand likes and counting and over twenty thousand talking about this! 

Mike Sonko's Facebook Page Cover

Sonko also commands five aliases on Twitter; @MikeSonkoM, @GideonMbuvi, @MbuviMikeSonko

@GideonKioko and @RealMikeSonko

Sonko has also appeared in a number of interviews most prominent which I have come across was a Google hangout organized by Ghetto Radio in December 21, 2012 in which he talked among other things the Somali incursion by Kenyan military!

Other notable mentions are his appearance in Jaguar Video as a shoe shiner! Watch it below

Mike Sonko Posters

Mike Sonko Posters

Mike Sonko Posters

Campaign Dispatches #Uchaguzi2013: Uhuru Kenya Presidential Campaign website is up!

Website: http://www.uhuru.co.ke/
The Kenyan elections is less than two months away and as we approach the elections [which is turning out to be a two horse race] the different campaign have began leveraging on information technology to woo the youth vote.

In these elections I am interested in understanding how the presidential candidates will use tech to pass out their information. Today the Jubilee Coalition which is made up of Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto commonly known as #UhuRuto is launching it's presidential campaign at Uhuru Park. This website has been launched to mark this occasion.

I have had a look at the website and it has a good User Interface [UI] and User Experience [UX]. Also, it is a one stop shop for election pundits. However, the site has no info on his running mate William Ruto and the events calendar does not show UK's schedule. However this is a good start.

The other problem I have with the site is that it is static. Seems to be an avenue to get email addresses for die hard UK fan's. Now waiting to see what the competitors will unveil...