The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) is a target of several fresh appeals to spread the voter registration that is in progress to the lower administrative units after the concern of low turnout, especially of young people.
Youth leaders from Gilgil and Naivasha constituencies in Nakuru County informed that the centralised registration model has shut down thousands of new voters who do not have the means of transport to the constituency headquarters. They argued that the money barrier had kept many young people away from the vital national exercise.
The leaders said that even though the IEBC plans to register at least 80,000 new voters in the two constituencies, only about 2,000 people have turned up for registration, thus representing a very low turnout, which, according to them, calls for immediate intervention.
They called upon the commission to quickly station mobile units and ward-based registration centres so that more people can access the service and the number of newly registered voters can be raised in time for the next election cycle.
