A poll released by TIFA on Wednesday, December 15 has shown that many youths between 18-24 years old have not registered as voters.
The research conducted between November 7 and November 13 showed that only 73 percent of youths in this age bracket have registered as voters.
The researchers found out that this age bracket has the least number of registered voters due to their political apathy.
This means they are less interested in the political direction that the country is taking ahead of the 2022 General Election.
The age bracket was followed by those between 25-29 years, where 84 percent have registered as voters.
TIFA poll further showed that 86 percent of those between 30-34 years have registered as voters while 93% of those above 35 years have registered.
The TIFA research established the following characteristics in those who are not registered as voters;
30% lack of interest in politics
22% too busy to register (but hope to register)
14% too busy to register (no plans to register)
11% lacks ID (yet to be issued or was lost).
The findings that there is a low turnout in voter registration among the youth confirm a finding by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
On December 1, IEBC commissioner Abdi Guliye said the low turnout in the mass voter registration was because the youths are not interested.
“We registered about 1.5 million new voters and this can be attributed to voter apathy. The youth are not interested in voting,” he said.
The commissioner further said that the youth do not believe that their decisions on the ballot will have an impact on their livelihoods.
They told us they did not expect any change in their lives. The commission cannot be blamed for the low voter registration,” Guliye added.
