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Kenya

3.7mn new voters registered against 6mn IEBC target

IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati says this was represents a 62 per cent success rate/MUTHONI NJUKI

NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 21 – Nairobi, Kiambu and Nakuru counties recorded the highest number of new voter applicants during the Mass Voter Registration (MVR) exercise which has seen 3,782,089 new voters listed according to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

Figures released by IEBC Chairperson Wafula Chebukati Tuesday revealed that there were 461,346 new voters (Nairobi), 225,995 (Kiambu) and 175,6756 (Nakuru) during the month-long exercise which begun on January 19 and ended on February 19 following a five- day extension by the High Court.

Meru (169,803), Mombasa (141,686) and Kilifi county (123,866) followed in the fourth, fifth and sixth positions respectively with Machakos (114,320), Kakamega (114,126), Murang’a (101,724) and Uasin Gishu (100,346) completing the top 10 chart.

Kajiado, Mandera and Narok County however recorded the highest turnout compared to projections by the electoral body, according to Chebukati.

The three recorded a massive 240, 116 and 102 per cent of the projected target in the respective counties.

Garissa (92 per cent), Kirinyaga (91 per cent), Kiambu (90 per cent), Wajir (89 per cent), Murang’a (86 per cent), Nakuru (84 per cent) and West Pokot (81 per cent) following closely.

According to Chebukati, IEBC performed significantly well compared to the projections it had set before embarking on the MVR exercise despite less than 100,000 new electors being registered in each of the remaining 37 counties.

“We achieved 62 per cent of our upper limit target we had set at six million and 95 per cent of our lower limit which we had set at four million,” Chebukati said.

On voter transfer, Chebukati said a total of 1,001,819 transfer requests were made across the country.

He however admitted that the registration of Kenyans in prisons meant to kick off on Monday was unable to commence due to logistical challenges saying IEBC will roll out the enrolment on Wednesday.

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“Data obtained from correctional services indicate that there are 49,867 prisoners in 118 prisons across the county,” he said adding that a Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kit will be made available to each of the prison facilities.

Of the 49,867 only 5,922 convicted prisoners and 2,246 of those remanded have their national identity cards in prison.  A total of 5,696 of those convicted and 5,615 of those remanded are said to be having their identity cards at home.

30,358 prisoners do not have the documents.

The registration of Kenyans in Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and South Africa which begun on Monday will continue until the March 6.

Consequently, Kenyans who still wish to register as voters have until March 7 to do so at IEBC offices in 290 constituencies across the country before the closure of the register to pave way for an audit of the roll intended to weed out dead voters and those who may have been registered twice.

“The commission projects that approximately 3.2 million voters will be added to the register after we have cleaned and verified the register.”

Submission of party nominations rules began on Monday and is scheduled to end on March 2 with the submission of party membership lists expected to run from March 9 to 19.

The names of those who wish to participate in party primaries are to be submitted to IEBC between March 26 and April 5 as the gazettement of candidates takes effect from March 30 to April 12.

Party primaries will be conducted between April 13 and 26.

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