IEBC: Kenya voter turnout at 56 percent an hour to polls closing

Published:August 10,2022

By SILAS APOLLO

Residents queue to cast their votes at the Kenyatta Sports Ground polling station in Kisumu County on August 9, 2022. PHOTO | TONNY OMONDI | NMG

The electoral commission has said 12.065 million Kenyans had voted by 4 pm, with only one hour left to the official polling stations closing time of 5 pm.

According to IEBC, the figure, which represents 56.17 percent voter turnout, excludes the number of voters identified through the manual register and those who were still in queues as at 4 pm.

Only 30 percent of Kenyan voters had cast ballots by midday

The electoral commission has announced that 6,567,869 million Kenyans had turned up to vote by 12 pm on Tuesday. 

Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission vice chairperson Juliana Cherera said polls were opened at 6 am in most places countrywide as well as in the diaspora. 

Voting in the diaspora is happening in 12 countries including Burundi, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, South Africa, United Kingdom, Canada, USA, Qatar, UAE and Germany. Voting is taking place from 6 am to 5 pm at their local time.

In a press briefing, Ms Cherera announced that voting for parliamentary seats in Kitui Rural and Rongai constituencies were postponed because wrong candidate pictures were printed on ballot papers.

Elections date will be announced through a gazette notice, she said.

At the same time, IEBC has allowed the use of the manual voter register in Makueni County for 84 polling stations and Kakamega County for 154 polling stations.

theeastafrican.co.ke