Tuesday, October 12, 2021 – ODM leader Raila Odinga’s perceived strongholds have registered the least number of new voters in the ongoing voter registration exercise, despite Baba’s desperate appeal.
This was revealed by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) which launched a nationwide voter registration exercise ahead of the 2022 General Election.
According to the latest data from the IEBC, Raila Odinga’s traditional strongholds in Coast and Nyanza regions had performed poorly in new voter registration.
Furthermore, seven out of ten counties from President Uhuru Kenyatta’s vote-rich Mt Kenya region which has thrown weight behind the former Prime Minister have registered the least number of votes with just 1 percent.
A status update on the continuous voter registration exercise yesterday showed that IEBC had only registered 202, 510 new voters, in the last seven days out of the weekly target of 1.5 million voters.
“For the last seven days, the commission has registered 202,518 new voters out of the weekly target of 1,500,000,” IEBC chairperson Wafula Chebukati said in a statement.
Chebukati attributed the low voter turnout to lack of ID cards, a crucial document for registration of new voters, voter apathy as well as Kenya’s culture of last-minute registration.
The news came as sweet music to the ears of Deputy President William Ruto, who is Raila’s fierce challenger in the upcoming polls.
IEBC launched the enhanced voter registration exercise on Monday last week where it announced that it expects to register at least six million new voters in the drive conducted at the Ward level.
Last month, Raila said he may not give the fifth stab at the presidency come 2022 if his supporters fail to register as voters.
He said he will first gauge the number of people who will have registered as voters from his strongholds before he announces his presidential ambitions.
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