This issue of the Journal of Eastern African Studies is devoted to a single topic, the election crisis in Kenya. Initial plans to run a small group of three or four papers dealing with aspects of the important elections in the July issue of 2008 were overtaken as the seriousness of the crisis for the entire region became apparent. In early 2008 we decided to extend our coverage and publish as early as possible.

The guest editors organised two very well attended workshops in Nairobi and Oxford in January 2008. Many of the papers appearing in this special issue were first aired at one of these workshops with speakers including many journalists and human rights activists as well as academics. The range of articles in this issue presents the election crisis through the context, the campaign, the vote, the violence and finally the future.

In addition, a free download of the detailed numerical results of the 2007 Kenyan General Election are available on the journal's web page (www.informaworld.com/JEAS). This analysis, compiled by Toni Weis, contains a full record of the presidential and parliamentary election results and will be updated if there are subsequent changes to the final results.

Read the editorial online for free

Selection of Articles

The Political Economy of Kenya's Crisis
Susanne D. Mueller

What Has He Got up His Sleeve? Advertising the Kenyan Presidential Candidates in 2007
Justin Willis

Voting in Kenya: Putting Ethnicity in Perspective
Michael Bratton and Mwangi S. Kimenyi

Fuelling the Flames: Rumour and Politics in Kibera
Michelle Osborn