Race for eligible voters by Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga hots up

IEBC CEO Ezra Chiloba(right) and IEBC deputy commission secretary Marjan Hussein during a press conference on Mass voter registration. (Photo: Beverlyne Musili/Standard)

President Uhuru Kenyatta and Opposition leader Raila Odinga have geared up to marshal their supporters to register as voters.

This comes with the revelation that each of their traditional voting blocs constitutes half of the nine million new voters the electoral body is targeting ahead of the August elections.

Raila and other CORD leaders have prioritised areas where the coalition enjoys support as part of the mobilisation strategy they agreed on last week, when they suspended the planned protests against the electoral law amendments that, among other things, allow for a manual voting process to complement the digital system.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) launches the voter registration exercise today.

Yesterday, State House announced that Uhuru, who on Friday told thousands of Jubilee Party aspirants to set aside their differences and rally new voters for the ruling coalition, had planned several events.

"The President is also due to participate in a number of events to drum up support for voter registration ahead of the August 2017 elections," said State House Spokesman Manoah Esipisu. The President's itinerary is, however, yet to be disclosed.

Raila will tour 24 counties between Wednesday and February 1 in phase one of his countrywide voter registration mobilisation tour that focuses on regions with a combined 4.5 million potential new voters.

IEBC is conducting the mass registration from today to February 14, targeting at least 6.7 million of the 9.1 million potential voters with identity cards who are not in the voters' register as at December 2016.

"Information we received from the National Registration Bureau indicates that by November 2016, over nine million Kenyans had been issued with national identification cards but remained unregistered as voters," said IEBC Chief Executive Officer Ezra Chiloba.

NEW VOTERS

According to IEBC data, Rift Valley region, which has 14 counties, has 1.8 million people with national ID cards but are yet to register as new voters.

It is followed by Eastern region's eight counties with 1.5 million, Nairobi (1.3 million), Nyanza's six counties (1.3 million), Western's four counties (1.1 million), Coast (one million), Central (one million) and North Eastern with 166,983 potential voters who are yet to register as at December 31, 2016.

Today, Raila will be in Nairobi as the scramble for voters ahead of the August elections gathers momentum. His main mobilisation rally will be held at Old Kibera Primary School in the new Kibra constituency.

The constituency was part of the old Langata constituency, which he represented in Parliament for over a decade.

However, it is his keen attention to areas considered Opposition zones and which account for over 4.5 million potential new voters that demonstrates his resolve to ensure that he debunks Jubilee's "tyranny of numbers" myth that has been blamed for his 2013 defeat.

AFFILIATE PARTIES

On Wednesday, Raila begins his tour in Busia, Siaya and Kisumu counties, which have voted overwhelmingly for his Orange Democratic Movement, one of CORD's key affiliate parties.

The Opposition leader has maintained that massive voter registration in Opposition's strongholds will be the game-changer in this year's elections.

Over the weekend, he urged supporters in Opposition strongholds to register as many new voters as possible to support the push by CORD's co-principals to hunt for votes in areas where Jubilee is unpopular.

On his Western Kenya tour, the Opposition chief will begin his visit in Busia County where ODM lost a point man after Budalang'i MP Ababu Namwamba quit the party he had served as secretary general last year.

After meetings in Malaba town and Busia, Raila will head for Kisumu where he enjoys massive support but which has always reported low voter registration and turn-out.

On Thursday, he will visit Nyamira, Kisii, Homa Bay and Migori counties.

Next Monday, he will be in Vihiga, Kakamega, Bungoma and Trans Nzoia. Other regions on his itinerary are West Pokot, Elgeyo Marakwet and Turkana.

On January 27, the CORD leader will tour Machakos, Kitui and Makueni before he heads for Taita Taveta, Kwale and Mombasa the next day.

Kilifi, Tana River, Lamu, Kajiado and Narok are on the last leg on February 1.

During the month-long exercise, Raila will make at least two visits each week in a number of counties including Kajiado where the Opposition will be facing off with Jubilee.

To ensure the countrywide registration is successful, IEBC is set to distribute 7,846 Biometric Voter Registration kits to the counties, 53 of which will be at various Huduma centres across the country to speed up the exercise.

The commission also expects to recruit 1,775 voter registration assistants and 15,692 clerks for the exercise.