Despite the emergence of several studies on Twitter's network effect during election processes, very few took a comparative approach to examine the social media platform's use in emerging democracies with high levels of political parallelism. This study helps bridge this gap through a thorough Twitter network analysis regarding two different presidential elections: the 2012 presidential election in Egypt and the 2013 Kenyan presidential election. While the two case studies had intense activity levels, there were clear distinctions. In Egypt, the pan-Arab mainstream media helped drive much of the interaction affirming their dominant traditional gatekeeper role. Kenya's case however showed greater levels of citizenry participation, stronger networks, and less reliance on mainstream media, which show signs of 'disintermediation'.