Tharaka Nithi County has yet again registered low turnouts in voter registration, with the county registering 7,819 (18.8%) new voters in the just concluded second phase of the continuous voter registration.
According to Tharaka Nithi Elections Manager Mr. Obadiah Kariuki Gachoki, the exercise that took place between 17th January 2022- 6th February 2022 was set to register over 41,543 new voters in the county but was unable to meet its target.
Maara with a target of 5,783 managed to register 1,953(33%) new voters with Tharaka constituency registering 2,765(12%) new voters out of the 22,981-target set by IEBC. Chuka Igambangombe with a target of 12,799 managed to register 3,101(24%) new voters.
“We have registered a low turn out compared to the targets we had set for the county. We were unable to meet our projections” – Obadiah Kariuki
Cumulatively, the two phases of enhanced mass voter registration have registered 21,464 new voters in the county, with 13,645 voters registered in the first phase.
Voter registration continues across the county, with deployment of 3 kits per constituency for the exercise which is set to run until 28th February.
“We will continue with voter registration. What has changed is the deployment of 3 kits per constituency from the deployment of 3 per ward as was the case in the enhanced mass voter registration” – Obadiah Kariuki
A registration booth has also been set up at Huduma Centre.
Voter apathy in continuity