CORD, Jubilee in heated voter registration drives

CORD, Jubilee in heated voter registration drives

As the mass voter registration exercise kicks off next week, Jubilee and CORD coalitions have drawn plans to rally supporters in their strongholds to register in large numbers.

The parties have tasked special teams and elected leaders to traverse their backyards, an acknowledgement that next year’s polls will be won by those who garner the numbers in particular regions.

CORD and Jubilee are mapping out their plans to win the game of numbers with the special teams spearheading the voter registration drives.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) will roll out its first phase of mass voter registration on Monday, but it is the mode of registration that has once again put the two coalitions on opposing ends.

“We will not agree to registration per ward level, but per polling station,” said CORD’s James Orengo.

However, Jubilee’s MP Johnson Sakaja said that the registration per polling station is “both impractical and impossible.”

IEBC’s CEO Ezra Chiloba said: “The resources we would have wanted were not availed to us. We wanted Ksh 2 billion but we were given Ksh 500,000, surely financial constraints have tied us.”

CORD has already set up a pre-2017 structure and a voter mobilisation and sensitization committee that seeks to ensure monitoring of voter registration, as well as rally their numbers.

The Jubilee coalition, on the other hand, is seeking to bring its parties under one umbrella party, with an aim to maximize on a united front.

“On mass registration, in Meru area, we are targeting to register 1.9 million voters,” said Meru Women Representative Florence Kajuju.

The two coalitions have also gone up against each other, with Jubilee camping in opposition strongholds seeking to endear its ideals to the electorate.

The two coalitions are keen to spread the rallying call.

IEBC, however, is keen to steer clear of the politics.

“That is why we are independent. We do not adhere to the same game rules as the political class,” said Chiloba.

The commission has employed 5,756 voter registration assistants, and each will be assigned a BVR kit to register voters across the 1,450 wards, in the 24,559 registration Centres.

The exercise ends on the 15th of March.

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