Electoral Reforms

Electoral laws

The statutes that govern how Kenya votes, and the regulations made under them — every one linked to Kenya Law's own text.

Kenya Law is the authority for enacted law, and these 21 instruments are its rows, not ours — we neither write nor amend them. They are scoped by the same keyword list the Bills tab uses, so "electoral" means one thing across this section. The question that scope answers is narrow on purpose: does this instrument govern an election to public office in Kenya, or the regulation of political parties?

15 instruments matched the keywords and were excluded — why

A keyword scan finds anything with "election" in its title, including a professional body electing its own council. Each exclusion below is a category with a reason, not a single inconvenient row, and each is pinned by a test that also proves a neighbouring instrument survives it.

Title patterns excluded from the electoral scope, and why
Title containsWhy it is not electoral law
development fundConstituency public finance, not electoral law
dairy industryDelegates of an industry body, not a public election
medical practitioners and dentistsA professional board's own members
nurses (A professional council's own members
trade unions electionsA union's internal elections
human resource management professionalsA professional council's own members
medical laboratory techniciansA professional council's own members
national youth councilA statutory council's own members
supplies practitionersA professional council's own members
car loanStaff welfare of an electoral body, not electoral law
mortgageStaff welfare of an electoral body, not electoral law
privileges and immunitiesDiplomatic status of an organisation

Deliberately kept: the East African Community Treaty instrument on electing members of the East African Legislative Assembly. Kenya's National Assembly elects those members, so it is an election to public office conducted by Parliament.

  • 6principal Acts
  • 15legal notices
  • 21with an official source link
  • 2966instruments in the whole corpus

21 of 21 Kenya Law instruments shown, and 25 of 25 of the IEBC’s own published copies.

Principal Acts

The statutes themselves, as enacted by Parliament.

Principal Acts: electoral instruments held by Kenya Law
Instrument Number Year Assented
Election Offences Act Cap. 66 2016 not recorded
Election Campaign Financing Act Cap. 7A 2013 not recorded
Publication of Electoral Opinion Polls Act Cap. 7B 2012 not recorded
Elections Act Cap. 7 2011 not recorded
Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Act Cap. 7C 2011 not recorded
Political Parties Act Cap. 7D 2011 not recorded

Regulations, rules and orders made under those Acts and gazetted as legal notices.

Subsidiary legislation: electoral instruments held by Kenya Law
Instrument Number Year In force from
The Political Parties (Membership) Regulations. Legal Notice 260 of 2021 2021 not recorded
The Political Parties (Funding) Regulations Legal Notice 143 of 2019 2019 not recorded
The Political Parties (Registration) Regulations Legal Notice 141 of 2019 2019 not recorded
The Court of Appeal (Election Petition) Rules Legal Notice 114 of 2017 2017 not recorded
The Elections (Parliamentary and County Elections) Petitions Rules Legal Notice 116 of 2017 2017 not recorded
The Elections (Party Primaries and Party Lists) Regulations Legal Notice 69 of 2017 2017 not recorded
The Elections (Technology) Regulations Legal Notice 68 of 2017 2017 not recorded
The Elections (Voter Education) Regulations Legal Notice 70 of 2017 2017 not recorded
The Political Parties Disputes Tribunal (Procedure) Regulations Legal Notice 67 of 2017 2017 not recorded
The Supreme Court (Presidential Election Petition) Rules Legal Notice 113 of 2017 2017 not recorded
The Elections (General) Regulations Legal Notice 128 of 2012 2012 not recorded
The Elections (Registration of Voters) Regulations Legal Notice 126 of 2012 2012 not recorded
The Independent Electoral Boundaries Commission (Fund) Regulations Legal Notice 74 of 2012 2012 not recorded
The National Assembly Constituencies and County Assembly Wards Order Legal Notice 14 of 2012 2012 not recorded
The Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community (Election of Members of the Assembly) Rules Legal Notice 31 of 2012 2012 not recorded

The IEBC’s own published copies25

Kenya Law is the authority for enacted law; the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission publishes its own copies of the instruments it administers. These are shown separately rather than merged into the tables above, because the two bodies are authoritative for different things and collapsing them would misstate which published which text. They are also not duplicates: they carry the revised editions and the live 2027 drafts — the campaign-financing spending-limit determination and the draft ECF Regulations put out for comment — that Kenya Law does not hold as such.

Electoral instruments as published by the IEBC
Document Section Published by IEBC
Call for Memorandum on Election Campaign Financing Regulations and Draft Spending Limits. — Invitation to Submit Memoranda on the Draft Election Campaign Financing Regulations and Election Campaign Contribution, Spending Limits and Authorised Expenditures Election Regulations 8 Jul 2026
Determination of Spending Limits — Determination Of the Election Campaign Finance Spending Limits for 2027 General Election Election Regulations 6 Jul 2026
Draft ECF Regulations Election Regulations 6 Jul 2026
Formula — Summary of the determination of the formulae and election campaign finance spending and contribution limits Election Regulations 6 Jul 2026
Election Campaign Financing Act No. 42 of 2013 — Revised Edition 2017 [2013] Electoral Acts 19 Nov 2021
Election Offences Act No. 37 of 2016 — Revised Edition 2017 [2016] Electoral Acts 19 Nov 2021
Elections Act No. 24 of 2011 — Revised Edition 2019 [2011] Electoral Acts 19 Nov 2021
Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Act No. 9 of 2011 — Revised Edition 2020 [2011] Electoral Acts 19 Nov 2021
Subsidiary Legislation — Elections Act No. 24 of 2011 Electoral Acts 19 Nov 2021
Civil procedure act (cap 21) Electoral Acts 18 May 2017
Election Laws Amendment Act 36 of 2016 Electoral Acts 18 May 2017
Election Offences Act37 of 2016 Electoral Acts 18 May 2017
Elections Act 24 of 2011 Electoral Acts 18 May 2017
Elections Laws Amendment Act 1 of 2017 Electoral Acts 18 May 2017
Supreme Court Act (No. 7 of 2011) Electoral Acts 18 May 2017
The Elections (General) (Amendment) Regulations, 2017 Election Regulations 7 May 2017
The Elections (Technology) Regulations, 2017 Election Regulations 7 May 2017
The Elections (Voter Education) Regulations, 2017 Election Regulations 7 May 2017
The Elections Party Primaries and Party (Lists) Regulations, 2017 Election Regulations 7 May 2017
Election Offences Act37 of 2016 Election Regulations 24 Apr 2017
Election Laws Amendment Act 36 of 2016 Election Regulations 2 Feb 2017
Elections Act 24 of 2011 Election Regulations 2 Feb 2017
Elections Laws Amendment Act 1 of 2017 Election Regulations 2 Feb 2017
Civil procedure act (cap 21) — This is the Civil procedure act (cap 21) Election Regulations 2 Dec 2016
Supreme Court Act (No. 7 of 2011) Election Regulations 2 Dec 2016

That last column is when the Commission published the file on its own website — not when the instrument was made. IEBC's listings state no instrument date at all, so we record none rather than infer one; the instrument's own year is in Kenya Law's tables above.

A legal notice is made and gazetted, not assented, so the blank in that column on the subsidiary table is correct rather than missing — 0 of the 6 principal Acts carry an assent date, and commencement is what a legal notice records. Every row links to Kenya Law's own text; where a consolidated revision exists, that is the text Kenya Law serves.