NASA shocker over new voter numbers

ANC Party Leader Musalia Mudavadi joins Gede, Giriama dancers during his NASA campaigns in Kilifi.

National Super Alliance (NASA)-allied regions trail Jubilee zones by large margins as the mass voter registration drive comes to a close today.

Kajiado County registered the highest number of voters with 228 per cent turn out, while Vihiga from western trail with a mere 28 per cent of new voters in the drive conducted by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

In what could be a shocker to the NASA leadership, Raila Odinga’s supporters in the opposition seem to have kept off mass registration drive going by the figures that covered the period up February 16.

In Nyanza, Homa Bay registered 85,000 new voters which translate to 67 per cent of what IEBC had projected, while Kisii had the lowest at 41 per cent at 84,635 new votes.

Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka’s backyard also recorded dismal numbers.

Kitui County registered a total of 77,370 new voters or 44 per cent, which was the lowest in Eastern while President Uhuru Kenyatta’s backyard of Meru recorded the highest, 75.1 per cent.

The lowest numbers are in Western, the home turf of NASA’s Musalia Mudavadi and Moses Wetang’ula where Vihiga registered a paltry 28 per cent, Busia 45 per cent, Kakamega 39.3 per cent and Bungoma 44 per cent

In contrast, Jubilee strongholds saw a large voter turnout in places like Kirinyaga, Murang’a and Kiambu counties, all recording above 80 per cent of the intended target.

Kiambu led the way in the region with 220,000 new voters or 88.19 per cent of the targeted figures, while Nyeri was the worst performing county with just under 68,000 new voters or 42 per cent of the projected numbers.

Deputy President William Ruto’s Rift Valley bloc also saw a high turnout for newly-registered voters with many of the counties that voted for the coalition he has been part of over the past two elections averaging at above 50 per cent of the numbers intended to be registered by the electoral commission.

The data also shows a high turnout in areas that will likely be key battle grounds like Kajiado, Narok and Mandera which realised the highest turnout for the registration.

Kajiado was the best county with 228 per cent turnout translating to more than 75,000 new voters, while Narok had 97 per cent.

The Coast region experienced a fairly good turn out with Taita Taveta’s 42 per cent being the lowest, while large turnouts were witnessed in North Eastern, where Mandera netted 109 per cent.

This can either mean that the residents turned out in large numbers, or the areas had huge a number of voter transfers.

Although Nairobi recorded the highest number of new voters—443,000—this was only 51 per cent of the projected numbers.

So far, the national average for new voter registration is 57.44 per cent, translating to more than 3.5 million voters. Counties around Nairobi and the marginal areas attracted more voters than other places. This could be due to two reasons: One, some people who had registered upcountry decided to transfer their vote to these areas and are therefore resulting in an influx. Second, it could imply that there was a high number of people in these areas who had not registered or taken identity cards.

The records show that the new votes in Kiambu County alone are more than the new listings in Kakamega, Vihiga and Busia combined.