TITLE:
The Effects of Public Opinion on Multi-Track Diplomacy Actors’ Critical Assessment of Kenya’s Presidential Elections
AUTHORS:
David Owuor Okoth Sanmac, Pontian Godfrey Okoth, Standslause Elijah Onyango Odhiambo
KEYWORDS:
Assessment, Campaign, Credibility, Critical, Diplomacy, Effects, Elections, Horserace, Media, Monitoring, Multi-Track, Opinion, Polls, Political, Presidential, Public
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Political Science,
Vol.11 No.4,
October
22,
2021
ABSTRACT: This
paper discusses the effects of public opinion on multi-track diplomacy election
monitors’ critical assessment of Kenya’s presidential elections with reference
to such elections held from the year 2007 to the year 2017. The study was
conducted in Nairobi between July and October 2020 using questionnaires among
voters, focus groups discussions and key informant interviews among state and
non-state actors in the political system. It was found that it was believed by the
majority of respondents that multi-track diplomacy actors that monitored Kenya’s
presidential elections were influenced by public opinion thereby affecting
their critical assessment of the outcomes of the elections, putting the
credibility of their statements, reports and verdicts insofar as their role in
promoting credible elections by preventing, detecting and deterring election
fraud, to question.