The August 8 presidential election left a mark as one of the most competitive polls ever held in the country's history since independence in 1963.
This is compounded on the fact that it was the first to be annulled by the Supreme Court on grounds of massive irregularities and illegalities.
The poll was cancelled following a petition filed by NASA leader Raila Odinga who argued that President Uhuru Kenyatta of Jubilee was not validly elected.
It should also be remembered that for the first time in Kenya’s history, a sitting President was defending his seat against a united opposition.
Never before has an incumbent stood on such slippery ground as the one Uhuru and DP Wiliam Ruto found themselves in.
The duo was confronted by five strong political leaders, Raila Odinga, Kalonzo Musyoka, Musalia Mudavadi, Moses Wetangula and Isaac Rutto.
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Looking at history, former president Daniel Moi in 1997 defended his seat with Mwai Kibaki, Raila Odinga, Michael Wamalwa, Charity Ngilu, Martin Shikuku, George Anyona, Koigi Wamwere, Munyua Waiyaki and Wangari Mathai - all perceived as big political names, racing against him using separate parties.
However, Kibaki, Raila, Wamalwa and Ngilu shared 55 per cent of the vote against Moi who won with a 40 per cent margin.
Yet again in 2007, Kibaki defended the presidency seat after the opposition, which had won the 2005 Constitutional referendum, split ahead of the election.
This was after Kalonzo Musyoka, who is now the leader of Wiper party which is part of NASA, ditched Raila’s ODM party to form his Orange Democratic Movement-Kenya (ODM-K).
Kibaki would successfully retain his seat for a second term under the Party of National Unity (PNU) umbrella.
The poll was contested leading to bloody violence that left over 1,300 dead and 650,000 others displaced from their homes.
This years election, however, turned out to be a two-horse race pitting Uhuru and Raila, held as the last stretch of the competition between the Kenyatta and Jaramogi dynasties.
Six other candidates were also cleared to run but none of them commanded over 5 per cent of the over 19 million registered voters in Kenya.
NASA, both in its name and promise, was sold as the last vessel that would "liberate Kenyans from political bondage and deliver them to Canaan".
Raila, who has been key in the country’s political processes, was referred to as the biblical Joshua who was to deliver Kenyans to the "Promised Land".
This never came to pass after the Opposition withdrew from the repeat vote organised by the IEBC in line with the apex court's decision which required them to hold the election in 60 days effective the September 1 judgement.
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All this while, Uhuru was viewed to be on the verge of making history as the first President in Kenya’s history to lose an election or failing to be declared a winner.
As the country geared towards the August 8 vote, many Kenyans braved ethnicised political campaigns culminating to bearing cold weather and long queues to cast their ballot.
The poll was held under the full watch of election observer groups - drawn both locally and internationally. The process seemed to have progressed well.
A total of 11,330 candidates participate in the election. Of these, 8 gunned for the presidency; 261 for woman representative; 183 for governor;
9,142 for member of county assembly, with 263 going for the senator job and 1,473 for MP.
Things, however, took a turn after the IEBC declared incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta as president-elect at the dissatisfaction of the NASA brigade.
The Opposition moved to court after which Chief Justice David Maraga, in a decision backed by four of the six judges who heard the case, ordered a fresh election within 60 days.
Following this order, the country experienced a situation where the political class flexed their muscle in an attempt to interpret the Constitution in ways that favour them.
Petitions after petitions by applicants seeking clarification of certain aspects in regards to the repeat election were filed at the Supreme Court.
As some groups demanded the IEBC to conduct fresh nominations, others argued that the electoral body would not meet the constitutional deadlines amid fears the country could plunge into a constitutional crisis.
The NASA coalition, for their part, presented to the electoral commission an 11-point irreducible minimums that the polls body was to meet before the repeat election.
The coalition said: "A credible election could not be achieved by cosmetic exercises intended to ring-fence vote-riggers and vote rigging."
Co-principals Raila, Mudavadi, Kalonzo, and Wetang'ula said the preconditions would assure a credible fresh presidential election.
Their call touched on transparent procurement of election materials; transparent use of and access to ICT; replacement of irredeemable personnel who abetted electoral fraud; gazettement of polling stations and live media coverage of results declaration at the 290 constituency tallying centres in the same manner as done at the national tallying centre.
Raila, terming Uhuru as a caretaker president after the nullification of the August election, maintained the coalition would only participate in the repeat election if IEBC met the said demands.
Their frequent demands were compounded by street demonstrations to compel the Wafula Chebukati-led commission to run the election on a clean sheet.
The commission itself suffered from serious rifts between the commissioners and the secretariat which the NASA team said was unlikely to assure them of a credible outcome.
They premised this on a memo by Chebukati asking CEO Ezra Chiloba to explain the circumstances under which the IEBC flouted the law leading to the annulment of the August vote.
The IEBC chair wanted Chiloba to give reasons why his password was allegedly used to access the results transmission system without his consent.
Chebukati also claimed some of the ballot papers printed by Dubai-based firm Al Ghurair had no security features.
The chairman, in radical changes, proposed the removal of Chiloba and James Muhati - head of ICT department. They were accused of presiding over the irregularities.
The commission shelved the hiring or a new team to man the fresh vote, resolving to promote internal staff to manage the election in acting capacities.
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However, NASA made good of their threat to boycott the election after Raila formally wrote to the the commission notifying them of his withdrawal from the race.
He claimed that since the IEBC had remained adamant to heed to their demands, he would not participate in an already predetermined election.
Days after his withdrawal, Roselyn Akombe, one of the IEBC commissioners who seemed to be vocal on the commission's progress towards the repeat election resigned.
She fled to the US citing threats to her life. She claimed some of the commissioners and secretariat were not committed to ensure the credibility of the election.
The polls body, however, went ahead to run election even after the chairman threatened to resign citing divisions among the agency's commissioners.
The repeat election was held on October 26 though some regions did not conduct the same following the boycott calls by NASA coalition. The IEBC postponed polls in 25 counties citing security concerns.
Despite the hitches, the IEBC went ahead and tabulated the results before declaring Uhuru Kenyatta president elect with a 98 per cent win of the 38 per cent that turned out to cast their vote.
Though the commission said most of the 19 million registered voters, it based the low numbers on voter fatigue and violence.
Uhuru’s second would then be contested at the Supreme Court in two petitions were consolidated into one since they had almost similar prayers.
The petitioners - former Kilome MP Harun Mwau on one hand, Khelef Khalif and Njonjo Mue on the other, argued that the IEBC did not conduct the election as per the election guidelines.
The Supreme Court judges, however, threw out the two petitions and upheld Uhuru’s win.
Though Uhuru has assumed office after being sworn in, his legitimacy has been put to question with NASA affiliated leaders declining to recognise him as president.
The MPs both in National Assembly and Senate have remained divided with some vowing to cripple his second term.
Meanwhile, the coalition has embarked on a plan to create the people’s assembly that is set to spearhead its secessionist agenda.
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