Democracy is a framework that competitively allocates political power from the citizens to the representative government and ensures the convergence of the interests of the citizens and their representatives.
In a democracy, the sovereign power belongs to the citizens who may exercise it directly or indirectly through elective representation. As principals, the citizens delegate some of their sovereign power to the three arms of the government to maximise their welfare collectively.
Effective political power delegation is exercised through competitive electoral processes, which rests on the assumption that the citizens possess public virtues and credible information to uphold accountability to their elected representatives. The whirlwind of digital revolution has irretrievably transformed the power dynamics between the states and citizens, as evidenced by the 2024 worldwide elections data.
The digital revolution is attributed to the defeat of many incumbents in the polls of 70 countries, home to half of the world’s population. However, the digital revolution seemingly cuts both ways; it can be progressive as well as retrogressive.
On one hand, digital democracy embodies the development of digital systems, communication and rapid advances in computing power, which have enabled new ways of generating, processing and sharing information.
On the face of it, these developments would inferably enable the citizens to progressively and effectively exercise their core civil duty of voting in the government of their choice.
On the other hand, digital systems like the Internet, once hailed in its infancy as a beacon of unbounded freedom on a new electronic frontier, have gradually mutated to become manipulative through misinformation.
For instance, the algorithms that drive digital media reinforce the monopolistic dominance of service providers, whose unaccountable power not only determines what choices users have but also gathers data on them and shapes their perceptions.
Conversely, the explosion of the digital revolution in the Global North has coincided with a backsliding of democracy in Africa, which epitomises the global digital divide.
Yet, as an emerging digital hub in Africa, Kenya has embraced digital democracy through a digitalisation policy anchored on digital infrastructure, services, data management, skills, and innovation.
These progressive endeavours, nevertheless, must be safeguarded against the downside of the digital revolution.
For instance, the consequential emergence of Artificial Intelligences (AI) technology and its impact on the electoral process. AI has become a double-edged sword that can enhance digital democracy or undermine it.
Kenya has taken is cognizant of these threats by taking policy and legislative actions embodied on Kenya’s AI Strategy 2025-2030 and the Data Protection Act of 2019, which are anchored on constitutional principle of right to information.
However, given the exponential fluidity of AI technology, more is needed to combat the prevalence of digital disinformation in the electoral process.