Coast region hit by low voter listing as Raila visits to shore up numbers

CORD leader Raila Odinga is set to visit the Coast region this week to mobilise residents to register as voters. (Photo: Collins Oduor/Standard)

The electoral agency has registered only 78,024 new voters in Coast's six counties in the first week of the mass voter registration.

This low listing has caused anxiety within political circles in Coast, especially within CORD, whose co-principal Raila Odinga begins a tour of Kilifi this morning to rally support for the exercise.

In the last elections, Coast registered 1.9 million voters out of a projected 2.9 million and only 57 per cent voted on March 4, 2013.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) aims to register a million new voters, including 343,544 in Mombasa and 300,000 in Kilifi counties.

The exercise entered its second week Monday as the IEBC officials raised a red flag especially in areas like Lamu and Tana River, which have listed the lowest number of voters, warning that it may not meet its target of a million new voters for the region.

Statistics given by the IEBC Monday reveal that in the South Coast region, Mombasa, Kwale and Taita Taveta counties had jointly listed only about 50,000 new voters. The least figures were recorded in Taita Taveta County while Kwale had the best returns.

South Coast IEBC Regional Coordinator Albert Gogo said Monday the new registered voters represent a paltry 15 per cent of projections and appealed to residents to come out and get listed to avoid a last-minute rush.

Mr Gogo noted Kwale County had a slight improvement in turnout at about 18 per cent, Mombasa about 13 per cent and Taita Taveta 10 per cent.

Meet target

Prior to the 2013 General Election, Kwale County came last at 57 per cent in meeting target, a situation attributed to threats by the separatist Mombasa Republican Council.

North Coast Region Elections Coordinator Amina Sudi said Monday the region, which covers Kilifi, Tana River and Lamu counties, had registered only 24,000 votes out of 188,000 targeted eligible voters.

"For now, we are struggling with the registration exercise and the truth is that our expectations are still very low. We were expecting to register at least 50,000 voters in every week but by now we have registered 28,000 voters," said Amina.

She said Kilifi County, which is the largest county of the three in the region, recorded a higher number of votes at 21,586.

Lamu County has recorded 2,700 and the target was 24,000 votes in the first week and the expectations will not be reached if a half of the number will not be registered.

Tana River has recorded 10 per cent (3,738) out 33,896 targeted eligible voters.

"This already indicates that few people are coming out to register and most of them are going to miss the opportunity to register in this main exercise which will end on February 14," she said.

Sudi said Kalolani in Tana River that borders Kitui South has been invaded by pastoralists, who are demanding to be registered.

However, Sudi maintained the pastoralists would not be registered in the area.

At the same time, she assured those who had misplaced their acknowledgement slips they they also qualify to vote.

"The card is not in our Constitution but that is a document to show that you have visited the registration centre... If you have lost it, be assured that you will participate in the voting exercise. One important thing for the election day is your identification card," she said.