evidence: This propensity for political violence comes from multiple places. First, Kenya's winner-take-all electoral system creates high-stakes, zero-sum contests between political factions. Second, these political factions competing for highly competitive seats largely delineate along ethnic lines. This is partly due to politicians who rely on hate speech and identity politics as the basis for patronage and mobilization. The pre-1992 regime of former President Daniel arap Moi, which intentionally played ethnic groups against each other to maintain power contributed to a pattern of ethnicity based politics. But the main institutional driver of such ethnic fractionalization is the strategy of political zoning, whereby local elites essentially shut opposition candidates out of campaigning in certain areas, creating echo chambers and clear antagonism between regions. Additionally, Kenya has a reputation for aggressive and overly-militarized security forces, which have often been unleashed on political opponents during these contentious election seasons.