General elections were held in

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

in February 1961. The result was a victory for the

Kenya African National Union The Kenya African National Union (KANU) is a Kenyan political party that ruled for nearly 40 years after Kenya's independence from British colonial rule in 1963 until its electoral loss in 2002. It was known as Kenya African Union (KAU) from 19 ...

, which won 19 of the 53 elected seats.

Electoral system

Twenty seats were reserved for minority communities; ten for

whites White is a racial classification of people generally used for those of predominantly European ancestry. It is also a skin color specifier, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, ethnicity and point of view. De ...

, eight for

Indians Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

and two for Arabs. There were also twelve appointees.Elections in Kenya
African Election Database Primary elections were held for the reserved seats by members of the respective communities, and candidates receiving at least 25% of the vote advanced to the main elections.Robert M. Maxon & Thomas P. Ofcansky (2014) ''Historical Dictionary of Kenya'', Rowman & Littlefield, p202 Of the 1,411,117 registered voters, 29,879 (2.18%) were Indian, 19,332 (1.37%) white and 5,472 (0.38%) Arabs.

Results

Nine constituencies (with a total of 353,251 registered voters) were uncontested, reducing the number of actual voters to 1,057,866.

Dolf Sternberger Dolf Sternberger (originally ''Adolf Sternberger''; 28 July 1907 – 27 July 1989) was a German people, German philosopher and political scientist at the University of Heidelberg. Biography Dolf Sternberger was born in Wiesbaden in 1907. He is ...

Bernhard Vogel Bernhard Vogel (; 19 December 1932 – 2 March 2025) was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany, Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He was the 4th Minister President of Rhineland-Palatinate from 1976 to 1988 and the sec ...

Dieter Nohlen Dieter Nohlen (born 6 November 1939) is a German academic and political scientist. He currently holds the position of Emeritus Professor of Political Science in the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Heidelberg. An ex ...

& Klaus Landfried (1978) Die Wahl der Parlamente: Band II: Afrika, Erster Halbband, p972

References

{{Kenyan elections Elections in Kenya 1961 in Kenya

Legislative Council of Kenya