At stake in this Referendum:

• Whether to ratify a new constitution drafted by a Committee of Experts and approved by Parliament on April 3, 2010.

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Mwai KIBAKI
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Raila ODINGA
• Assembly: Kenya has a unicameral National Assembly (Bunge) with 224 seats.

Description of electoral system:

• The President is elected by qualified plurality vote to serve a 5-year term.*
• In the National Assembly (Bunge), 210 members are elected by plurality vote in single-member constituencies to serve 5-year terms, 12 members are appointed by the president to serve 5-year terms and 2 members are reserved ex officio.***

* In addition to winning a nationwide plurality, the winning candidate must have won 25 percent of votes in any 5 of the 8 provinces, and she must also have won the parliamentary election for her own constituency.

*** Appointed members are nominated by the political parties. These 12 seats are allocated among the parties in proportion to their nationwide vote share

Electoral Requirements

• Fifty percent of total votes cast and 25 percent of votes cast in five of the countries' eight provinces.

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 40,328,313 (2010)
• Registered Voters: 12,616,627 (August 2010)

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 20,169,064 (2010)

·         Is Kenya a signatory to CEDAW: No

·         Has Kenya ratified CEDAW: Yes, accession (9 March 1984)

·         Gender Quota: Yes

·         Female candidates in this election: Yes

·         Number of Female Parliamentarians: 21 (National Assembly) (following the 2007 elections)

·         Human Development Index Position: 145 (2014)

·         Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: Medium (2014)

Disability Data:

·         Is Kenya a signatory to CRPD: Yes (30 March 2007)

·         Has Kenya ratified CRPD: Yes (19 May 2008)

·         Population with a disability: 6,049,246 (est.)