Don't be vague bash the Hague: votes and legitimacy in Kenya's 2013 elections

What is it about?

The article examines how the International Criminal Court’s intervention in Kenya was depicted by the Jubilee Coalition leaders so as to influence the outcome of the country’s 2013 general elections in their favor. The article adopts social constructivism to examine the relationship between the depiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC) intervention in Kenya and the Jubilee Coalition’s electoral victory in Kenya’s 2013 elections. The Jubilee Coalition managed to delegitimise the intervention in order to win the elections. The depiction of the ICC as a biased institution in the elections was based on its inherent statutory weaknesses related to prosecutorial discretion, jurisdiction and admissibility.

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Why is it important?

It demonstrates that the inherent statutory weaknesses of international organisations such as the of the ICC can be used by political actors to delegitimise the aims and objectives of such organisations.