IEBC misses registration target in week two as apathy persists
IEBC registration clerks wait for voters at the Obunga Resource Centre in Kisumu County on January 29, 2017. Voter apathy has hit the ongoing listing. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP.
What you need to know:
- In the two weeks since the campaign started only 1,539,879 Kenyans had applied to be voters.
- This represents only 25 per cent of the upper target which is six million voters.
- He said the top 10 counties in voter registration include Kajiado, Mandera, Kirinyaga, Kiambu, Murang'a, Narok, Nakuru Wajir, Tana River and Garissa, in that order.
The mass voter registration has failed to net the numbers the electoral agency had targeted in some counties.
The Independent Boundaries and Electoral Commission (IEBC) on Tuesday said in the two weeks since the campaign started only 1,539,879 Kenyans had applied to be voters.
This represents only 25 per cent of the upper target of six million voters.
“This means that much work still needs to be done," said IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati when he released the results.
He said the top 10 counties in voter registration include Kajiado, Mandera, Kirinyaga, Kiambu, Murang'a, Narok, Nakuru Wajir, Tana River and Garissa, in that order.
“We are concerned that some counties with the highest potential voting population of 100,000 and above are below 20 per cent of their total targets,” he said.
These counties include Vihiga, Nyeri, Kisii, Kericho, Kakamega, Bungoma, Siaya, and Kitui.
The chairman also noted that the agency is cracking down on those inducing or bribing voters to transfer and register in different locations to serve their political interests.
He said the commission had received complaints about transfers and investigators are on the ground looking into the claims.
