The Influence of Kenyan Presidential Debate on Voter’s Choice: A Case Study of 2013 General Election

One of the main functions of the mass media is to inform and educate citizenry about all aspects of human undertaking which includes their political life. Hence, in most democracies, political communication, which utilizes the media, has become indisputably relevant. In Kenya also, where the mass media is used in creating political awareness among electorate, politicians continually use it for similar purpose. For the first time in history, Kenya staged two live televised presidential debates on 11th and 25th of February 2013. On this basis, the study sought to establish the impact of Kenyan presidential debates during 2013 election on voter’s choice. The significant concern of this research was that the Kenyan television news, including the presidential debate, had not been sufficiently objective and balanced in dissemination of election information, which contributed to poor voting decisions. The study aimed at describing the role played by the Kenyan Presidential debates in changing voter’s choice. The study targeted media consumers who are also registered voters consisting of individuals drawn from Nairobi County. The researcher used multi-stage sampling in selecting the respondents. Telephone-based interview was used as a data collection tool. Quantitative data was analyzed through the use of descriptive statistics. The study findings revealed that Kenyan Presidential debate played a role by changing the voter’s choice and that the presidential debate served as a source of civic education. Concerning the results of the first and second presidential debates, the research concluded that voters already had predetermined choices and most of them believed their preferred candidates had won the debate.