Voter turnout below 20 per cent in 113 constituencies in repeat poll

In almost 40 per cent of constituencies, less than a fifth of registered voters cast ballots in the October 26 election, data from the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) shows.

A review of the IEBC figures by Nation Newsplex reveals that the 113 constituencies that recorded drastically low voter turnouts of below 20 per cent were from Western, Coast, lower Eastern, Nairobi, North Eastern and Nyanza regions.

These are areas that National Super Alliance (Nasa) and other parties that were allied to Mr Raila Odinga had won in past elections. The number includes the 25 constituencies in Luo Nyanza, Mr Raila Odinga’s stronghold, which boycotted the election.

However, voters from Central Kenya turned up to vote in the re-run in nearly the same numbers as the August 8 Presidential poll, according to IEBC’s figures.

The 32 constituencies that recorded a turnout of 80 per cent or more were all from Central region, apart from Bahati and Subukia in Nakuru County 

Among the 265 constituencies that participated in the repeat presidential election, Kisumu West where 51 votes were cast, and Taveta, where 69 ballots were cast, had the lowest voter turnout, of less than one per cent. They were followed by Butula with 402 votes cast, or one per cent turnout.

Other constituencies in which less than 1,000 ballots were cast include Vihiga (817) and Nambale (840) in Western region, and Muhoroni (848) in Nyanza.

Voter turnout in Butula and Teso South constituencies in Western region plunged by 78 percentage points compared to the August poll, the largest drop of the constituencies that took part in the re-run.

In the Newsplex analysis, turnout includes both valid votes and rejected votes. The analysis excluded Turkana West where 50,082 ballots cast on August 8 as recorded in IEBC’s Form 34C exceeded the 31,416 total registered voters by almost 60 per cent. It also left out Nyando Constituency because the August 8 Form 34C did not indicate number of votes cast in that constituency.

OVERALL VOTER TURNOUT

In nearly a third of the counties, less than 15 per cent of registered voters cast ballots in the poll. The 14 counties that recorded a voter turnout of below 15 per cent were from Western, Coast,lower Eastern, North Eastern and Nyanza regions.

Gatundu North, which neighbours Gatundu South, which President Uhuru Kenyatta represented in Parliament before becoming President, and Kigumo constituencies, had the highest turnout in the entire county, of 87 per cent.

They were followed by Githunguri, Othaya, Kandara, Lari, Gatundu South, Kiharu, Mathioya and Kinangop which recorded an 86 per cent turnout.

Of the 34 constituencies in Central region, Ruiru Constituency in Kiambu County registered the lowest turnout of 69 per cent and, a percentage decline of 10 per cent, the biggest turnout slide in the region.

About a third of the votes or 2,392,549 were cast in Central region, which translated to an average turnout of 82 per cent or a four percentage point drop from the 86 per cent recorded in August.

With 7,653,930 votes, the overall voter turnout was 39 per cent, calculated against all the 19,611,423 registered voters in Kenya. Of the cast votes, 7,616, 217 were valid while 37,713 were rejected. President Kenyatta got 7,483,895 votes or 38 per cent of registered voters, according to the IEBC.

The 32 constituencies that recorded a turnout of 80 per cent or more were all from Central region, apart from Bahati and Subukia in Nakuru County which had voter turnouts of 82 per cent and 81 per cent, respectively.

Ruiru had the highest number of votes cast with 110,598 votes followed by Thika Town with 102,986. Both are in Kiambu County. Naivasha Constituency in Nakuru was third with 102,539 votes.

Going by region, in second place was mid and upper Eastern including Embu, Meru, Tharaka Nithi, Isiolo and Marsabit counties, with 61 per cent, a decline of 18 percentage points from 79 per cent in August.

Within the region, South Imenti had the highest turnout of 71 per cent and Isiolo South the lowest turnout of 21 per cent. Moyale Constituency saw its voter turnout drop by 56 per cent, the largest percentage drop in the region.

In third place was Rift Valley region, which in August had a voter turnout of 80 per cent. In October, it registered a voter turnout of 57 per cent, a drop of 23 percentage points. Kiminini and Narok North constituencies recorded a percentage voter turnout decline of 55 per cent, the biggest in the region. Bahati recorded the highest turnout of 82 per cent while Kiminini registered the lowest turnout (19 per cent).

In fourth place was Nairobi, usually a competitive county in any election. The capital registered a voter turnout of 35 per cent compared to 73 per cent in August, a drop of 38 percentage points. Ruaraka and Kibra constituencies registered a percentage turnout decline of 60 per cent, the biggest decline in Nairobi

Roysambu had the highest voter turnout in Nairobi (66 per cent) while Kibra had the lowest at 13 per cent.

In fifth place was North Eastern region (19 per cent) with Fafi Constituency registering the highest turnout (43 per cent) and Dadaab the lowest (eight per cent). Banissa Constituency turnout fell by 74 per cent, the biggest in the region.
In sixth place was Coast Region with a turnout of 14 per cent with Lamu West Constituency recording the highest turnout of 38 per cent.

Of the regions that did not totally shun the election, lower Eastern and Western regions had the lowest turnouts of nine per cent each.

REJECTED VOTES

Kitui South and Mavoko in lower Eastern reported the highest turnout in the region of 17 per cent in the region while Kaiti, Kibwezi West, Makueni and Mbooni attained the lowest turnout of four per cent. Mt Elgon had the highest voter turnout in Western (53 per cent) while Butula had the lowest (one per cent).
In the October 26 election, half of one per cent of the votes were rejected, almost the same rejection rate as in the August poll that was annulled by the Supreme Court.