Last week we asked why Kenya’s recent general election was peaceful, in contrast to the post-election violence that followed the country’s divisive December 2007 vote. At first glance this peaceful nature is puzzling: the election was close, like in 2007, and observers were concerned that violence would once again ensue. So why did little violence occur? Commenter hearabout suggests that in the years following the traumatic 2007-8 unrest Kenyans have worked to prevent tribal and political violence, and election media coverage has been comparatively milder. “Further,” hearabout writes, “the main actors of the 2008 violence, Kenyatta and Ruto and such, have also demonstrated restraint and called for peace.”
