Presidential frontrunners William Ruto and ODM leader Raila Odinga have launched a charm of offensive to grab a share of Kenya’s diaspora vote.
The Deputy President and his main challenger Raila Odinga have resorted to virtual conferences to lure the 291st constituency that is only eligible to vote in presidential elections.
On Friday, December 3, the deputy president held a diaspora conference hot on the heels of the one by former Prime Minister Raila Odinga where Ruto urged Kenyans living outside the country to turn out in large numbers and register as voters ahead of the diaspora voter registration exercise.
“We urge all our supporters to prepare and turn out in large numbers for this diaspora voter registration,” he said in a report by the Daily Nation.
During the 2017 General Election, only 4,224 Kenyans living outside participated in the exercise in 10 polling stations in Uganda, Tanzania, Ruanda, Burundi, and South Africa.
However, in the 2022 General Election, the figure is expected to more than double after the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) added six more countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, South Sudan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Germany.
But Raila- who recently confirmed that he will be giving a fifth stab at the presidency in the 2022 elections- in a virtual meeting with Kenyans living in diaspora demanded that the commission must register Kenyans across the globe to participate in General Elections exercise and not just a few selected countries.
IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati said the right to register as a voter was progressively being realized for Kenyans living outside Kenya (the diaspora) and prisoners.
“The commission is currently undertaking to map in the Diaspora and will soon announce the dates for voter registration in the diaspora,” he said during a consultative forum with the Political Parties Liaison Committee on 2022 general election preparedness at Maanzoni Lodge in Athi River, Machakos.
