The Electrical Commission of Kenya has disclosed that as at January 2007 there are 13 million registered voters. These are distributed as follows:
Rift Valley - 2,997,942
Eastern - 2,125,644
Central - 1,956,642
Nyanza - 1,787,289
Western - 1,404,862
Nairobi - 1,104,053
Coast - 1,049,553
North Eastern - 258,693
Total - 12,684,678
What do these statistics portend for the general election?
- Votes regions will be key negotiation and campaign points. Constitution requires a presidential winner to garner at least 25% of votes cast in at least 5 provinces.
- There are close to 5 million eligible voters who do not have voting cards either because they have no identity cards or they have not yet registered for voting.
- The figures do not capture the Kenyans in the diaspora who may be willing to vote but there is no logistical infrastructure to enable them to vote.
- With a historical voter turnout of about 80%, slightly less than 10m votes will be counted in the 2007 general elections
- Politicians will coalesce their regions around potential regional chieftains and use the figures as a bargaining position in pre-election memorandum of understanding
Post a Comment