With hours until the Kenya voter registration deadline, Kenyans have turned to social media to push for more participation in the process after the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), Kenya’s electoral body, signalled that turnout has been “below par overall”.
At the start of the exercise, the IEBC said it targeted registering over 18 million voters, a number that has proved elusive. As per the latest statistics, over 12 million Kenyans had registered, representing about 67 percent of the target.
With the registration deadline set for today (Tuesday), the mainstream social media sites are saturated with messages urging more voters to register.
Brand Kenya Board
Are you a registered voter? Our leaders for the next five years will be determined by the choice we make today to register as voters. You have six more hours to change Kenya’s future! Take a step and make the right choice.
Larry Madowo
I am going out to register to vote today (I am Kenyan after all, last minute is how I roll). If you’re like me, please go out and register. This country needs all of us to
Msanifu @khanali_
Long queues in most Mombasa#registration centres despite the rain.
When the#iebc txts will be over, am sure some inboxes will be empty all through.
Reports from across the country say that there are now queues at many registration centres. The High Court today turned down pleas that the voter registration process be extended, with a number of lobbyists complaining that many youth lacked ID cards while the issue of Kenyans in the Diaspora not voting has also seen intense criticism.
Daily Nation @dailynation
COURT DECLINES to issue orders extending#voter_registration to allow enlisting of prisoners. Case set for hearing on Jan 12.#IEBC
According to Google Trends,interest in voter registration and the IEBC on the Web has increased exponentially in the past seven days, sometimes surpassing even hot searches such as “Manchester United”.
