Kenya's Diaspora vote poses new headache for IEBC

IEBC officials prepare for an election. Most Kenyans in the diaspora are not captured in official data and may not want to come out to register as voters. [PHOTO: FILE/STANDARD]

NAIROBI: As it prepares for the 2017 General Election, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) is grappling with the herculean task of registering an estimated three million Kenyan voters in the diaspora.

The headache arises from the fact that about 80 per cent of Kenyans living abroad are not captured in official data and may not be willing to come out to register. This raises the question of whether diaspora registration and voting, an expensive venture, is worth undertaking.