Nairobi,KENYA:More Kenyans have full confidence in key institutions that will make the upcoming August 8th polls a success.
Findings of an Infotrak survey reveals that there is faith in the Independent Electoral Boundaries Commission IEBC, Supreme Court, Religious Organizations and the Media.
“ 66.2 per cent believe that the IEBC is prepared for elections, 52 per cent believe in the Supreme Court, 64.2 per cent are for the religious organizations while 60 per cent believe in the media messages, “said CEO Infotrak Angela Ambitho while addressing journalists.
When it came to perceptions on the upcoming ballot 73 per cent believed that the elections would be free and fair, 14.4 per cent did believe that the elections would be free and fair 12.2 per cent did not have any perceptions ,while 0.2 percent of respondents refused to answer.
“Central is the most confident that elections will be free and fair followed by Eastern then the Rift Valley region. Look at Coast where almost 23 per cent are not sure whether elections would be conducted in a fair manner and another 19 per cent are not confident of a fair poll,” Ms. Ambitho noted.
She posed a question whether this attitude at the Coast is as a result of their previous electoral experiences or the current political climate being experienced in the region.
“Work needs to be done at the Coast to ensure people have the confidence in the upcoming polls. Authorities must find out why the Coastal populace believes the elections will not free and fair. Such beliefs drive apathy and poor voter turnout,” Ms. Ambitho advised.
95.6 per cent agreed that political parties should take stern action against their party members who cause violence and incitement.
58.9 per cent were not happy with the way politicians are conducting themselves so far in the lead up to the general elections.
94.2 per cent of Kenyans wanted any politician who incites others to cause violence and destruct property should be barred from holding appointive and elective public offices
“This could be because of the chaos that have marred the primaries,” the CEO remarked.
About 23 per cent of Kenyans have heard or read any statements that were intended to make them feel negative about people from other ethnic communities while 76 per cent have never heard such.
When it came to electoral violence almost half of Kenyans felt that national politics would cause chaos, 19.8 per cent would felt that skirmishes would emanate from constituency or county level.
“16.6 per cent thought violence would originate both from national and constituency politics, 13.2 per cent not know what could cause chaos while 1 per cent refused to answer,” Ms. Ambitho said.
The survey was commissioned by Integrated Development Network (IDN) and conducted by Infotrak Research and Consulting using Computer Assisted Telephone Interviews (CATI) through Infotrak’s ICATi suite.
A sample of 1500 respondents was interviewed to represent the 2017 projected adult population of 24,762,744.
The sample size translates into a margin of error of -/+ 2.53 at 95% degree of confidence.