Kenyans have boycotted the re-run for the next President on October 26th with a voters turn up at 33% down from 80% in the last vote.
According to Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), “6.5M voters turned up as compared to the 19.6M voters registered.”
Only a third casted a ballot compared to the initial poll held in August 8th 2017 where Kenyans turned up in big numbers.
Raila Odinga the veteran opposition leader quit the race earlier this month, after his demands for procedural reform in the IEBC were not met.
The NASA leader wants the reforms they have demanded to be carried out in the commission in order to have a new general election altogether.
Odinga went on and directed his supporters to boycott the ballot. This has been seen in the low compliance of voters.
NASA addresses this as, “people have constitutional rights to or not to vote and the Electoral Commission should not force Kenyans in the five counties to vote if they don’t want.”
The electoral commission postponed voting five counties including Kisumu, Siaya, Migori, Homabay, Busia to Saturday October 28th following the fracas between demonstrators and police. All five counties are areas are where opposition support is high.
At least five people died in violence linked to this election, according to Kenya’s National Police Service and the country’s Red Cross.
George Kinoti the police service spokesperson, in a statement, confirmed one person was shot dead by police in Homa Bay county, while two others died from gunshot wounds in the western town of Kisumu.
Wafula Chebukati, the chairman of Kenya’s electoral board, said 5,319 polling stations out of more than 40,000 had not opened. He added that they had been prevented from opening by bad weather and “security” issues.
He said that “the commission is under duty to give voters the right to vote” and that at this point they “cannot make a decision whether to extend the right to vote beyond Saturday” if clashes with opposition supporters interfere with people’s ability to get to the polls again.
Kenya’s highest court nullified the first election won by incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta over irregularities raised by Odinga, paving the way for this week’s vote.
Kenyatta is seeking a second five-year term. The voting authority has seven days to declare a winner, but a Kenyatta victory appears likely.
As more ballot boxes from different counties come in, the incumbent is leading with over 98.3%, followed by Odinga with 0.9%.
