In 2010, Kenya extended voting rights to its estimated 3,000,000 citizens living abroad, thus joining a growing number of countries in Africa and around the world to recognize emigrant voting rights. Yet despite a politically engaged diaspora, intensive government outreach to emigrants, and high-stakes electoral competition, fewer than 3,000 Kenyans were permitted to vote from abroad in the 2013 and 2017 presidential elections. What explains the failure of the Kenyan government to implement diaspora voting on a broader scale? Drawing on original interviews and archival documents, this article analyses the tumultuous battle over the adoption and implementation of external voting in Kenya, focusing especially on legal, logistical, and political challenges. We argue that uncertainty about the number of Kenyan emigrants and their political preferences, paired with a highly competitive electoral climate, meant there was little political will to push for more widespread implementation of diaspora voting. Our analysis of external voting in Kenya has implications for diaspora participation in other competitive electoral contexts across the continent and beyond.

中文翻译：

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肯尼亚侨民投票：被拒绝的承诺

2010 年，肯尼亚将投票权扩大到其估计居住在国外的 3,000,000 名公民，从而加入了越来越多的非洲和世界各国承认移民投票权的行列。然而，尽管有政治参与的侨民、政府对移民的密集宣传以及高风险的选举竞争，但在 2013 年和 2017 年的总统选举中，只有不到 3,000 名肯尼亚人获准从国外投票。肯尼亚政府未能在更广泛的范围内实施侨民投票的原因是什么？本文利用原始采访和档案文件，分析了肯尼亚在采用和实施外部投票方面的激烈斗争，特别关注法律、后勤和政治挑战。我们认为，肯尼亚移民数量及其政治偏好的不确定性，再加上竞争激烈的选举气氛，意味着几乎没有政治意愿推动更广泛地实施侨民投票。我们对肯尼亚外部投票的分析对散居在非洲大陆及其他地区其他竞争性选举环境中的参与具有影响。