Presidential election petitions are a recent phenomena in Kenya's political landscape. This is partly because of Kenya's colonial history and the single political party system founding President Mzee Jomo Kenyatta adopted after assuming power in 1963.

Under the one-party rule, opposition to the sitting president was never countenanced and those who as much as dared, risked the wrath of the party's rank and file, if not outright expulsion. The presidential election ended at the party nominations stage at that time. And even then, that was done to merely fulfill a legal requirement that demands that elections be held after every five years.

When Mzee Kenyatta died in 1978, and Daniel Moi succeeded him, his ardent critics within the Kanu party had no choice but to join the chorus of his endorsement. The first presidential election petition in Kenya is traced to 1992 after the return of multi-party politics. It was also the first time Kenyans were directly voting in a presidential election.