Mombasa, KENYA: The Independent Electoral and Boundaries commission (IEBC) has expressed dissatisfaction with the number of people coming out to be registered as voters in the North Coast region, in the recent started mass voter registration exercise.
IEBC North Coast regional coordinator Amina Soud said that since the exercise began early this week, they have registered about two thousands new voters in the north coast counties i.e. Kilifi, Lamu and Tana River.
Speaking to Baraka FM on Wednesday, Soud said that this is much less the number they were expecting in two days of the exercise.
“Up to Tuesday 17th the number of people who showed up for the exercise is two thousands, in all the three counties i.e. Kilifi, Lamu and Tana River. We don’t know where the problem is because it’s totally against our target of six thousands.” said Amina.
She added that this is despite increasing the number of voter registration centers to 372, increasing voter educators to 120 who mobilize people to come out to register.
However, she expressed hope that the numbers might increase as days go by as that is the culture of Kenyans, who like last minute rush.
“I am hopeful that the numbers will increase as days go by, because it’s barely two days since the exercise kicked off, so we expect people to come out in large numbers as days goes by,” added Soud.
About changing voting centers, Soud said people can do that by visiting the centers they are planning to vote.
READ ALSO: Kilifi records poor voter registration turn out as residents blame IEBC clerks
The countrywide mass voter registration began on January 16 and it will last for a period of 30 days.
