As the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) fast tracks preparations for the August 9th General Elections, worrying figures continue to stream in from the various registration centers in Meru and Tharaka Nithi Counties.
The IEBC rolled out the second phase of Enhanced Continuous Voter Registration (ECVR) running from January 17th to February 6, 2022, having received additional funding from the Treasury in efforts to register 4.5 million new voters who were left out in the first phase.
In the first phase of the Enhanced Continuous Voter Registration exercise running from from October 4th to November 5, 2021, a total of 1,519,294 eligible Kenyans were registered as new voters out of the targeted 6 million.
Despite rallying calls from local leaders urging residents to turn out in large numbers, only 23,622 persons have been registered as voters in phase 2 of the ECVR, against an overall target of 167,666 persons. This represents a paltry 14.09%, with just a week left to the deadline.
In the first week of the exercise, Meru County registered 7,424 new voters, against a target of 55,889 new voters. Week Two experienced an improvement, with a total of 16,198 new voters registered, against a target of 111,778 persons.
In the neighboring Tharaka Nithi County, 2,051 persons registered as new voters in the first week of the ongoing exercise, while 4,350 were successfully registered in the second week.
This brings to 6,401 the total number of new voters fetched so far in the entire County, representing 14.09% of the target population.
Nairobi County has registered the highest number of new voters in the exercise, with 19,910 new voters registered in the second week alone, followed by Kiambu County with 11,642 newly registered voters in the second week.
Several Kenyans have decried the tedious process set out for persons wishing to change their polling stations.
“When changing my polling station, IEBC officials require a letter from the Chief’s camp. I thought the Chairman clarified we can change freely from whichever station. Make it simpler kindly. A cry for many Kenyans.” says Joe Mwangi.
The Commission has in the last 14 days registered 548,188 new voters out of 2,987,138 that were targeted. Further, there were 130,320 requests for transfer and 989 applications for change of particulars.
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