NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 10 – The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) says nearly 14.2 million voters participated in Tuesday’s General Election.
The electoral body’s chairman Wafula Chebukati disclosed that the figure, a 65.4 per cent voter turnout, had been derived from the Kenya Integrated Management System (KIEMS) kits.
Chebukati pointed out that the final voter turnout figure will be compiled after reconciling the number of voters whose identity was captured using the manual register.
“The voter turnout is based on the verification of the KIEMS kits which were functional during the process of voting,” he stated.
“We have areas where the commission allowed the use of manual register and we shall not be able to give you the exact voter turnout unto the data is transmitted in the results form and we compute the final voter turnout.”
The Commission on Tuesday revealed that out of the 46 229 KIEMS Kits they used, only 200 malfunctioned.
Chebukati, at the same, allayed fears that Tuesday’s Election had registered a meagre voter turnout, noting that once the complete compilation is done, “the figure will go higher”.
“This figure will go higher once we compute the verification of the areas that did manual voting,” Chebukati said.
The Commission had registered some 22.1 million voters to participate in the polls.
Voting is still ongoing in most polling stations countywide as the country awaits the final declaration of the presidential results.
The Commission is, in the meantime, in receipt of 45 141 forms 34As which have been related from the 46 229 polling stations.
Chebukati stated that tallying and compilation of forms 34Bs is ongoing at the polling stations.
With pressure building on the Commission to declare the results latest by August 16, officials at the Bomas of Kenya – the Commission’s main tallying centre are working overnight to count votes.
