July Search Data Reveals What Kenyans are Searching for About Elections

Google has today released search trends revealing what Kenyans have been searching for between July 3 to August 1st. The trending questions on Kenya elections included;  ‘when is the Kenya election’, ‘when will the campaign end for the 2022 election’, ‘when are the elections in Kenya’ and ‘who is in charge of a polling station’ respectively. Other top  questions on the elections that Kenyans searched for include ‘who will win 2022 election in Kenya’, ‘how many days to election in Kenya 2022’, ‘how long after election is president sworn in’, ‘when was 2013 general election held’, ‘why 2017 elections were nullified’ and ‘how long does it take to swear in a new president in Kenya?’

The trends also show that Kenyans went online to keep tabs on political parties and their respective presidential candidates. David Mwaure Waihiga  emerged as the leading trending candidate, which means there was a higher spike in searches compared to the others, followed by  William Ruto, Raila Odinga and George Wajaackoyah. Trending searches are the searches that had the highest amount of traffic over a specific period. 

Sharon Machira, Google’s Communications and Public Affairs Manager in Kenya says, “This is a critical time in Kenya’s democracy and it’s great to see that people are collectively turning to Google Search to help them find  answers to their biggest questions about the elections,” she said.

In partnership with ReutersGoogle will launch a Live Elections Results One-Box on 9th August at 2PM. This tool will post presidential results as they trickle in from polling stations 5 minutes after they are announced by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC)h and will enhance Kenyans’ experience on Google Search.

The live elections update portal will be in English and Kiswahli and will see results posted within 5 minutes after they are announced by IEBC. A notification will then be sent forthwith to every user. The portal will also display party colours with respect to every candidates’ name and image  as well as the total counted vote of every presidential candidate.

Also active during the electioneering period, is Google’s Harassment Manager Tool that enables users to detect comments mainly made on Twitter that are most likely to be toxic and mute or block perpetrators of harassment or hide harassing replies to their own tweets. Kenyans, especially those vulnerable to online abuse such as journalists, activists, and politicians will be able to review tweets based on hashtag, username, keyword or date. 

This web app was built by Jigsaw, a unit within Google that explores threats to open societies and builds technology that inspires scalable solutions, in collaboration with Twitter. To detect potentially harmful comments, it uses Jigsaw’s Perspective API, which uses machine learning to identify “toxic” language. We define toxicity as language that is rude, disrespectful or likely to make someone leave a conversation.

Below are the July Search Trends 

Trending questions on the election, past month

 When is the Kenya election?

1. When will the campaign end for 2022 election?
2. When are the elections in Kenya?
3. Who is in charge of a polling station?
4. When will campaign start for 2022 election?
5. How many days to election in Kenya 2022?
6. How long after election is president sworn in?
7. When was 2013 general election held?
8. Why 2017 elections were nullified?
9. How long does it take to swear in a new president in Kenya?

Top questions on the election, past month:

1. Who will win 2022 election in Kenya?
2. Will Raila win 2022 election?
3. How many days to election in Kenya?
4. When is the election in Kenya?
5. Who is likely to be the president of Kenya in 2022
6. When will campaign end for 2022 election?
7. Who is in charge of elections in a polling station in Kenya?
8. When will campaign start for 2022 election?
9. How long after election is president sworn in?
10. When was 2013 general election held?

Trending candidates: (Trending searches are the searches that had the highest amount of traffic over a specific period.)

Candidate;

1. David Mwaura Waihiga
2. William Ruto
3. Raila Odinga
4. George Wajackoyah

Top Searched Candidates: (If the share of search interest for all candidates totals to 100%, this data represents the percentage) 

Candidate and Share of search interest

1. William Ruto-63%
2. Raila Odinga-34%
3. George Wajackoyah-2%
4. David Mwaura Waihiga- 1%

Political Parties ranked by search interest:

1. Agano Party- 48%
2. Roots Party-39%
3. Azimio la Umoja Party- 9%
4. Kenya Kwanza Party-4%

Trending political parties: (Trending searches are the searches that had the highest amount of traffic over a specific period.)

1. Agano Party
2. Azimio la Umoja Party
3. Kenya Kwanza Party
4. Roots Party