1963 Kenyan general election

General elections were held in Kenya between 18 and 26 May 1963, the last before independence later in the year. The result was a victory for the Kenya African National Union (KANU), which won 83 of the 124 seats in the House of Representatives and 18 of the 38 seats in the Senate. Five seats in the House and three in the Senate remained unfilled due to a secessionist conflict on the border with Somalia.

Campaign

A total of 275 candidates contested the elections for the House of Representatives; 90 from KANU, 59 from the Kenya African Democratic Union (KADU), 20 from the African People's Party (APP), five from the Baluhya Political Union (BPU), three from the Coast People's Party and 98 independents.

KADU, the APP and the BPU agreed to work together to try to defeat KANU.

Conduct

Pre-election violence occurred in Kangundo when a group of Kamba attacked KANU supporters, injuring fourteen people. Eleven people were arrested after KADU supporters were attacked outside party offices in Kitale.

Results

House of Representatives

Party	Votes	%	Seats
			Constituency	National	Total	+/−
Kenya African National Union	988,311	53.60	72	11	83	+64
Kenya African Democratic Union	476,218	25.83	32	1	33	+22
African People's Party	137,008	7.43	8	0	8	New
Baluhya Political Union	14,896	0.81	0	0	0	−1
Coast People's Party	9,135	0.50	0	0	0	0
Independents	218,311	11.84	0	0	0	New
Unfilled seats	−	−	5	−	5	−
Total	1,843,879	100	117	12	129	+96
Registered voters/turnout	2,583,000		−	−	−	−
Source: EISA, Sternberger et al.

Senate

The Nyanza Province African Union won its seat unopposed, whilst KANU (five) and KADU (four) won a further nine unopposed.

Party	Votes	%	Seats
Kenya African National Union	1,028,906	59.18	18
Kenya African Democratic Union	474,933	27.32	16
African People's Party	147,039	8.46	2
Baluhya Political Union	5,520	0.32	0
Independents	82,328	4.73	1
Nyanza Province African Union	–	–	1
Invalid/blank votes	7,662	–	–
Total	1,746,388	100	38
Registered voters/turnout	2,583,000		–
Source: EISA