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Tweeting Kenya's Referendum 2010

Categories: Sub-Saharan Africa, Kenya, Citizen Media, Digital Activism, Elections, Politics, Technology

Kenyans voted today in a referendum for a new constitution. Earlier today we linked to websites [1] with live updates of this historic event. Kenyan twitter users have been busy posting tweets related to the referendum using hashtags: #uchaguzi [2], #kenyadecides [3], #referendum [4] and #kuweniserious [5](“be serious” in Swahili).

A sample of tweets from #uchaguzi [2]:

Tegan Bukowski reports [6]:

An #Uchaguzi SMS report: “Woman goes into labour at Kabete polling station. Voters have pre-named the baby ‘Red Wafula Green” #kenyadecides

djxpect has a request [7]:

RT this plz. Need an artist 2 draw up a pic of the viral constitution baby Red Wafula Green throwing up a peace sign

Locococomoco tweets [8]:

Kenyans at Donholm still voting despite the fact that voting should be over by now (A result of earlier confusion)

RogerO_202 announces the closing of polling stations [9]:

polls have now closed, tallying commences

Tweets from #kenyadecides [3]:

wendohw [10]:

Lady from Narok says she'z voting cause the govt says so, and that she don't need to read it!

Semhar [11]:

RT @wsjafrica: Gorgeous pics of Voting in Kenya: http://bit.ly/dnCeHr

Locococomoco [12]:

Tallying begins across the the country, within half an hour initial tally results start being broadcasted.

warothe [13]:

@nymmoh Voting closed at 5pm. It was peaceful. Not heard of any security incidents. It was fast! I was in and out in 5min!

Rombokins [14]:

kitui prison in kitui central first to tally votes. YES: 21; NO: 7 out of 38 registered voters. (from nationmobile)

Kenyan twitter users are also able to send reports to Uchaguzi website [15] by using the hashtags: #uchaguzi or #kenyadecides. Uchaguzi is a site that monitors incidents related to the referendum.

You can also follow iHub live streaming [16]of Kenya's referendum.