IEBC registers 8.6m voters by week three

Residents of Giakanja trading centre in Nyeri County queue to register as voters on December 9, 2012. Photo/JOSEPH KANYI

What you need to know:

  • IEBC has said that it may not meet its target of 18 million voters ahead of next week’s deadline

Lamu, Kiambu, Nairobi, Muranga and Nyeri are the leading counties in turnout in the ongoing voter registration as the electoral commission announced that it had registered 8,648,926 by Friday last week.

With eight days to go before the exercise comes to a close, the data released by the Independent Elections and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) shows that only 46 per cent of the estimated 18 million voters have registered.

The figure of 8.6 million as of Friday is four million less than those who had been registered ahead of the August 2010 referendum on the Constitution.

IEBC has said that it may not meet its target of 18 million voters ahead of next week’s deadline.

IEBC chairman, Mr Issack Hassan, says they are now projecting to register only 12 million people by the close of the exercise that has been hit by widespread voter apathy.

“At the rate at which we are going, I am very concerned it is very unlikely we are going to reach it (target). I don’t know why people are not enthused about the election but, as I have said before, we must go on to hold elections on March 4,” said Mr Hassan.

Mandera, Turkana Wajir, West Pokot and Garissa Counties trail in turnout with the data showing that they have registered less than 30 per cent of the estimated voting population.

The data by the IEBC shows that 30 counties have registered less than 50 per cent of the expected voter population.

Those above the 50 per cent mark include Lamu, Kiambu, Nairobi, Muranga, Nyeri, Kirinyaga, Kajiado, Nyandarua, Kisumu and Siaya.

Others are Nakuru, Tharaka, Homabay, Laikipia, Embu, Vihiga and Busia.

In Lamu, 34,551 of a possible 47,338 voters have registered while in Kiambu, 518,667 out of an estimated 756,774 people and Nairobi has seen registration get to 990,127 out of a possible 1.4 million.

In Muranga, 293,622 out of a possible 439,432 have registered while in Nyeri 214,880 out 323,336 have enrolled and 162,447 out of 246,179 have registered in Kirinyaga.

Nairobi leads in the actual numbers having registered 990,127 voters followed by Kiambu where 518,667 have enrolled while 445,413 have registered in Nakuru.

Other Counties that are leading in the enrolment include Kakamega (377,534), Muranga (293,622) and Meru (285,857).