What Causes an Eruption of Nationwide Protests in a Country

In Kenya there have been 'nationwide protests' led by Raila Odinga the leader of opposition political party Azimio La Umoja due to allegetions of rigged elections and inflation in the economy. The party leader believes that the servers were tampered with when releasing the results at Bomas and that President William Ruto Presidency is undeserving on top of that the country currently is facing a high cost of living and high prices of products sold as it leaves many Kenyans to suffer in this current economy.

The 'Mandamano' protests started on March 20th and planned that protests will only occur every Monday till President Ruto will adhere to his demands.

Later on, Bi partisan talks were agreed to take place but certain errors took place to avoid the talks due to the opposition's demands weren't agreed with.

On the other side of the world, Pakistan is also witnessing a similar picture, former Prime Minister Imran Khan has been having protests because of a 'rigged election' in parliament that forced him out of government as the 70-year-old former cricketer-turned-politician was charged with abusing his position as prime minister from 2018 to 2022 to purchase and resell gifts obtained during foreign trips and valued at more than 140 million Pakistani rupees ($635,000).

Khan blamed his removal from the government as a conspiracy between the opposition and the US due to its ties with the Russians and the Chinese Government, despite the allegations the US had denied this. The former prime minister believes that the elections that took place were discredited.

Since then, campaigns have been taking place in the country since last year on the 25th of October 2022, as there has been unrest in the country since then as this involved military aggression to stop the protests which resulted in injuries to the protesters and deaths of protestors and an attempted assassination to the Former Prime Minister. Khan's party had lost the backing of coalition allies inside of parliament, depriving him of the majority he needed to overturn the no-confidence vote. Outside, he seemed to lose the backing of Pakistan's mighty military, which the opposition claimed assisted him in winning the 2018 general election and had just recently publicly quarrelled with the former prime minister over senior military appointments and policy decisions.

Just 2 weeks ago Imran Khan was taken to court due to these allegations and was taken into custody this caused outrage in the country but later on, but the former Prime Minister was released two days later as the country’s supreme court ruled that his arrest was “invalid and unlawful,” and he was released on bail a few days later. In a virtual speech he released after his release from custody from his hometown of Lahore, Khan asked his supporters to continue protesting, as this signalled the turmoil in the country.

In his remarks, Khan also decried the killing of prominent Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif in Kenya by local police, saying Sharif was compelled to flee the country because his life was in danger.

Imran Khan got into power in 2018 and was removed in 2022.