With approximately 20 weeks left to the 8 August election, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) of Kenya has so far registered 79% of the potential voters, or 19.8 million out of the estimated 25.1 million who are eligible.
Among those are 3,792,089 new voters registered within Kenya and 1,521 voters registered out of the country. The out-of-country registration was limited to South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi.
Women in Leadership Meeting
Women are taking a keen interest in elections, with around 50 women candidates in Mombasa county alone, and in Vihiga County, over 100 Women launched a Women’s Caucus to advance political participation in this electoral period.
Despite the positive developments, the Constitutional 2/3 gender principle has not yet been implemented, despite the petition by civil society organizations to do so prior to the 2017 general elections.
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[one_half_last]UNDP’s “Strengthening Electoral Processes in Kenya” (SEPK) project, funded by the European Union, among other development partners, continues to provide assistance to many of the stakeholders, including a recent training on BRIDGE, media skills and public speaking for the new IEBC Commissioners and Senior Management, a women’s rights workshop for the civil society organizations (CSOs), and finalization and signing of Media Guidelines for Election Coverage.
The project will also support development of an Observer Management System (OMS) to facilitate on-line registration and accreditation of short term, long term, domestic and international observers.
The project will also provide assistance to the Political Parties Dispute Tribunal (PPDT) and the Media Council of Kenya.
UNDP via it’s electoral cycle-based 2015-2018 Project entitled Supporting Electoral Processes in Kenya (SEPK), is supporting various Kenyan democratic institutions to prepare for credible and peaceful general elections in August 2017. [/one_half_last]
SEPK is a 24m project and is currently funded by the UNDP, DFID, the European Union, Ireland, Italy and USAID.
The Project focuses on the following main areas: strengthening institutional and legal framework for the electoral process; increasing participation of voters, parties and candidates in the electoral process with emphasis of women, youth and people living with disabilities; promoting efficient, transparent and peaceful elections; and strengthening electoral justice and increased compliance with the electoral framework.
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