The electoral commission has admitted that the ongoing voter listing drive has yet to gain momentum, pointing to limited registration points and operational delays, but says a wider rollout after the November 27 by-elections will help bring more citizens on board ahead of the next national vote.
IEBC Chairperson Erastus Ethekon on Tuesday said the figures collected since the continuous voter registration resumed remain well below the target, stressing that the commission will expand voter access once polling in affected areas is concluded.
As of October 31, the IEBC had captured 90,020 new voters, far short of the 6.8 million people it hopes to add to the register before the 2027 polls. The drive has also processed 15,619 transfers and 188 updates to voter records.
“There was agitation among the youths asking when we were going to roll out the voter registration. The numbers are still not as encouraging as we envisioned. For example, here in Mombasa, our projections were for us to have 183,000 new registered voters by the next general election, and currently we just have 3,976 voters registered. This is lower than expected,” he said at a youth engagement session in Mombasa.
Nairobi leads in new registrations with 16,512 new voters and 5,388 transfers, followed by Kiambu with 9,917 new voters and 1,766 transfers. Other counties posting active numbers include Machakos with 4,026 new voters, Mombasa with 3,967, Meru with 3,128 and Murang’a with 3,330.
Counties in arid regions, such as Tana River, Mandera, Wajir and Isiolo, have recorded almost no transfers.
The voter listing drive resumed on September 29 but did not cover the 24 electoral areas where by-elections are ongoing. Ethekon said access has so far been limited to constituency offices, but this will change with more registration sites being activated countrywide.
“There are some countries where voting is mandatory; however, here in Kenya, it is not. Therefore, we need as many newly registered voters as possible for this exercise. We are already recruiting clerks, and each Huduma Centre will have two clerks. Our target is to establish 30,000 registration centres,” he said, adding that clerks will be stationed in about 1,450 wards.
IEBC Chief Executive Marjan Hussein Marjan pointed to delays in issuing national IDs as another challenge holding back new entries.
“I meet Kenyans with dreams to change their lives and those around them, and exercising their right to vote is one of those dreams. But many do not have identification cards, which means they cannot get passports or even register as voters. It may not be our direct mandate, but this affects our work, and we, therefore, need to find ways to engage those in charge to act,” he said.
To ease ID access, the government recently waived application and replacement charges for six months.
Civil society representatives have criticised the low numbers and urged young people to take the process seriously.
“Mombasa’s 3,000 is not enough; we need to do better. Kenyans should know that their one vote can make a change. At the moment, youths alone, who are 56 per cent of the population, could decide the president if they vote as a bloc. We need to register,” activist Hussein Khalid said during a voter sensitisation forum by Vocal Africa and Amnesty International.
Ethekon urged the youth not to allow politicians to influence their registration choices and rejected claims that the upcoming polls could be manipulated.
“We have reviewed our electoral systems and would like to say it is impossible to rig. They say that there is ballot stuffing just to discourage those who want to vote. We need to avoid this and protect our democracy,” he said, noting the commission is ready for the upcoming by-elections.
