Kenya's 2007 election crisis

On 27 December 2007, the Republic of Kenya held its tenth general election since independence. The ballot-related proceedings went as planned up to and including the vote count, providing grounds for optimism for a largely peaceful transfer of power. However, after the official declaration by the Electoral Commission of Kenya late in the afternoon of 30 December that the presidential election had been won by the incumbent, Mwai Kibaki (from Central Province and a Kikuyu), Kenya entered into a period of deep crisis. How might we best understand this great turbulence, which was unprecedented in post-independence Kenya? Perhaps the answer lies in the sudden defeat of the opposition's presidential candidate, Raila Odinga from Nyanza Province and a Luo, who had been widely expected to win. With the post-election upheaval as the context, and looking at the situation from the standpoint of political history, this paper will offer an analysis of trends in Kenya's politics since 2002.Elections, Internal politics, Ethnic groups, President, Kenya, Election, Conflict, Ethnicity, Democracy, Politics

Construction of N = 2 Chiral Supergravity Compatible with the Reality Condition

We construct N = 2 chiral supergravity (SUGRA) which leads to Ashtekar's canonical formulation. The supersymmetry (SUSY) transformation parameters are not constrained at all and auxiliary fields are not required in contrast with the method of the two-form gravity. We also show that our formulation is compatible with the reality condition, and that its real section is reduced to the usual N = 2 SUGRA up to an imaginary boundary term.Comment: 16 pages, late

The Experience of the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) : Political Parties in Kenya from 1991 to 2007

This paper first examines splits and mergers among Kenya’s political parties (and inner-party factions) from the restoration of a multi-party system in 1991 until 2007, before the turbulent 10th general elections were conducted. It then considers what functions “political parties†have in Kenya with special reference to the period since 2002, the year in which President Moi announced his intention to retire. A look back at NARC’s five years of rule reveals that, although it succeeded in changing the government, NARC, as a “political party,†remained throughout an organization without any real substance. The paper looks at (1) NARC’s de facto split after its overwhelming win in the ninth general election, (2) malfunctions of the anti-defection laws that were introduced in the 1960s, and (3) Kenya’s election rules that require candidates to be nominated by registered political parties in general elections. The paper proceeds to argue that as a result of the operation of these three elements, Kenya’s political parties, and especially the victorious coalition sides, tend to end up being nothing more than temporary vehicles for political elites angling for post-election posts.Kenya, Political Parties, Elections - Kenya, Democracy - Kenya, Kenya- Politics and Government

On chiral symmetry in extended nonlinear supersymmetry

We study the equations of the motion for Nambu-Goldstone (NG) fermions in the nonlinear representation of supersymmetry (NLSUSY) and show in N-extended NLSUSY that those equations under massless conditions are satisfied, provided the NG fermions are chiral eigenstates. The physical significance of the result is discussed in the context of NLSUSY general relativity through the relations between nonlinear and linear SUSY theories, which gives a new insight into the chiral symmetry for the low energy particle physics.Comment: 6 page