Politicians Raise Concern Over Low Voter Registration Turnout
Politicians have raised concerns over low voter registration as reported by Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
According to the report, IEBC has missed its weekly targets with very few Kenyans turning out to register. With a week left for the exercise leaders are pulling all stops to shore up numbers in their strongholds.
It has become very difficult to mobilise the youths to register who see that even if they register their votes will not count.
The top presidential contenders are battling for the 6.2 million new voters which the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) targets to register by the time the exercise ends in a week.
The voter registration exercise has so far witnessed low voter turnout since it kicked off three weeks ago in the vote-rich Mt Kenya region, ODM leader Raila Odinga’s strongholds of Nyanza and Coast and Amani National Congress (ANC) leader Musalia Mudavadi’s western region.
The statistics which was released by IEBC at the end of the second week of the exercise, 491,968 new voters had been registered out of the commission’s two-week target of three million.
Raila’s political strongholds of Siaya, Kisumu, Homa Bay, Migori, Kisii and Nyamira had registered 70,812 new voters while Mudavadi’s backyard of Kakamega, Bungoma, Busia and Vihiga counties have only registered 53,014 at the end of the first two weeks.
Kericho, Bomet, Uasin Gishu, Baringo, Elgeyo Marakwet and West Pokot DP Ruto’s base had registered 74, 517 new voters in the same period.
Machakos, Makueni and Kitui the wiper party leader basement was not doing any better. The regions have only registered 32,778 new voters in the same period.
The politicians also raised concerns about millions of uncollected ID cards at chiefs’ offices which may have led to low voter turnout across the country.
The politicians called upon the many people who have not collected their IDs to do so and ensure they have registered as voters before the end of the period scheduled for the exercise.
