The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) data shows that more millennials are registering as voters than Gen Zs despite the Ongpin’ Niko Kadi’ campaigns.
Commissioner Alutalala Mukhwana said adult voters (above 35 years) account for two thirds of new registrations since the launch of the Enhanced Continuous Voter Registration (ECVR) exercise on September 29 last year.
The trend suggests that the momentum in voter registration is currently being driven more by middle-aged citizens than by first-time voters, raising questions on participation of youths in the electoral exercise.
Mukhwana said older voters dominate the new registrations, with those aged above 35 accounting for 67.35 per cent, compared to 32 per cent among younger voters.
He says youths, especially those graduating from high school aged 18-20 years, are the worst performers in enlisting.
“The youth engagement, as of today, remains low, but the overall percentage of the (newly registered) youth aged 35 and below stands at 32.65 per cent. The 18–20-year-olds are worst hit, we only have 67,888 of them,” he said.
The commissioner who spoke to Citizen TV’s The Explainer, attributed the lack of interest to the perception that votes get stolen as well as delays in acquiring national IDs after leaving school and a lack of civic awareness as key factors behind the low uptake among this age bracket.
He recalled an incident when a young man sought assurance during a public engagement in Kakamega that this time the lights will not be switched off to rig elections, an incident that happened in 2007, when he was probably a toddler.
The commissioner also referred to last November’s by-elections in which the elderly were queuing to vote while youths were camping outside polling stations to ‘protect’ the vote.
“We were in Mbeere North where elderly women were quivering to vote while young men were outside the polling stations to protect the vote,” he said while acknowledging that IEBC is struggling to rebuild trust in the electoral system.
As a reaction, youths are leveraging the power of social media to rally their peers to register with #TukoKadi, a youth-led online campaign aimed at mobilising young people to turn out in large numbers and register as voters.
The campaign, started by fellow Gen Z peers, is mobilising unregistered youth across Nairobi to physically present themselves at IEBC voter registration centres, with this category expected to provide a key vote block in next year’s polls.
The electoral agency data shows that the total number of registered voters now stands at 22,352,923 and of the newly registered voters, 50.9 per cent are male while 49.1 per cent are female, indicating a near gender balance.
In terms of regions, Nairobi leads with 49,055 new voters, followed by Kiambu with 20,404 with the two counties accounting for 27 per cent of all new registrations.
Mombasa ranks third with 15,140, followed by Machakos (11,687); Nakuru (10,432); Kitui (9,401); Kisii (8,871); Kakamega (8,078); Meru (7,499); and Murang’a (7,267).
Pastoralists counties are lagging behind with Isiolo having registered just 112 new voters, Tana River 241, Lamu 578, Elgeyo Marakwet 552 and Mandera 994.
