From left: IEBC Commissioner Francis Wanderi, Vice Chair Julian Cherera, and CEO Marjan Hussein at Bomas of Kenya.
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) says only 12 million people had cast their votes by 4.00 pm Tuesday, a 56 per cent voter turnout. This is out of the 22 million registered voters across the 46, 229 polling stations countrywide.
In its national update, IEBC Commissioner Francis Wanderi said some 12, 065, 803 voters had cast their votes as of 4 pm, excluding the manual register.
“At around 4 pm 12, 065, 803 registered voters out of 22, 120, 458 million registered voters had cast their votes. This equates to 56.17 per cent excluding voting through the manual register. Further, the commission has noted long queues in some areas where voting is still underway,” Wanderi said.
By 5.00 pm, the statistics had gone up to 56.7 per cent.
In addition, the commission has also said that it had scheduled eight by-elections on August 23 for areas whose polling was suspended. The electoral areas include Mombasa and Kakamega governor seats, Kitui Rural, Kacheliba, West pokot, Pokot South, and Rongai constituencies in Nakuru.
The by-election will also be conducted in Nyaki West Ward in Meru County and Kwa Njenga in Embakasi South constituency. “Our voters in these elective areas deserve to be given a period to elect their leaders and the commissioners also need to dispense other election activities to save on cost of training and new equipment,” he added.
The commission however reiterated that the by-elections will not affect the timeline set for announcing the president-elect.
Moreover, IEBC has scheduled voting in Eldas constituency for tomorrow at 6.00 am. The commission suspended the voting exercise in the area after a shooting incident on the eve of election day.
Last night, the Chebukati-led commission encountered challenges that forced it to suspend elections for four elective positions in certain counties. The ballot papers for Kakamega and Mombasa counties’ governor candidates as well as those for Kacheliba and Pokot South parliamentary seats had incorrect names and images of aspirants, forcing the electoral body to suspend elections in the affected areas at the last minute.
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