NAIROBI, Kenya Nov 29 \u2013 The by-elections held on Thursday have delivered a political shock that many Kenyans on social media did not see coming.<\/p>\n
For nearly two years, President William Ruto has endured wave after wave of online anger.<\/p>\n
Hashtags demanding he must go, Gen Z protests, TikTok rants, and daily vows that 2027 would end his presidency.<\/p>\n
But when it came to the ballot, the picture changed completely.<\/p>\n
The broad-based government, formed after the turbulent June 2025 protests, swept almost every seat on the table, including the hotly contested Mbeere North and Malava parliamentary races. <\/p>\n
These were the very constituencies the United Opposition had promised to use to \u201cembarrass\u201d the government. <\/p>\n
Instead, they were the clearest signs yet that Kenya\u2019s online mood and Kenya\u2019s real voters may be living in two different countries.<\/p>\n
For two years, Kenyans on X, Facebook and TikTok called the President everything from a betrayer to a dictator. <\/p>\n
Their frustrations were rooted in real struggles, a tough economy, broken promises, new taxes, and corruption scandals that refused to go away.<\/p>\n
That anger exploded on June 25, 2025, when Gen Z-led protests shook the country.<\/p>\n
Hundreds were killed, others injured, and many disappeared in the chaos. <\/p>\n
It took the late Raila Odinga\u2019s intervention to calm the streets, eventually leading to the formation of the broad-based government, a move that left many of his longtime supporters feeling betrayed.<\/p>\n
After that, online Kenyans vowed to punish both Raila and Ruto at the next election. <\/p>\n
\u201cOne term!\u201d became the rallying cry.<\/p>\n
Yet the by-election results tell a different story.<\/p>\n
And that story is simple. The people who shout the loudest online are not always the ones who vote.<\/p>\n
The broad-based coalition won all the parliamentary seats in play \u2014 Mbeere North, Kasipul, Malava, Ugunja, Banissa, Magarini \u2014 and even took the Baringo Senate race.<\/p>\n
In total, ODM and UDA partners claimed 18 out of 24 seats.<\/p>\n
For Ruto, this wasn\u2019t just another victory. It was a loud statement heading into 2027.<\/p>\n
Speaking on Thursday, a bullish President Ruto brushed off criticism that he is constantly in campaign mode.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not the politics season. Stop the noise,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen the day comes, they will not believe it. Kenyans believe in unity and prosperity.\u201d<\/p>\n
His supporters say the vote shows confidence in his leadership and the broad-based arrangement. Critics disagree.<\/p>\n
The United Opposition, led by Ruto\u2019s estranged former deputy Rigathi Gachagua and Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka, dismissed the results as a state-manufactured victory.<\/p>\n
Spokesperson Mukhisa Kituyi claimed the government used \u201cmassive public resources, money, and influence\u201d to tilt the race.<\/p>\n
He insisted that the by-elections \u201cdo not reflect the will of the people\u201d and warned that 2027 will be \u201ca bigger battle.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, the wins are a heavy blow for the opposition. <\/p>\n
Mbeere North and Malava were meant to be symbolic battlegrounds, places where they would show that the country is rejecting Ruto. That effort collapsed.<\/p>\n
The by-elections have triggered a fresh reality that Kenyans online might be living in an echo chamber and that Ruto\u2019s critics may be loud, but the President\u2019s voters are loyal, organised, and still showing up.<\/p>\n
The subsequent results however do not guarantee him a second term as many things can change before 2027 but they have revived his confidence and disrupted the narrative that he is a one-term president.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the uncomfortable truth is that, the online country may hate Ruto, but the offline country still votes for him.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NAIROBI, Kenya Nov 29 \u2013 The by-elections held on Thursday have delivered a political shock that many Kenyans on social media did not see coming. For nearly two years, President William Ruto has endured wave after wave of online anger. Hashtags demanding he must go, Gen Z protests, TikTok rants, and daily vows that 2027 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-125568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125568\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}