The Independent Election and Boundary Commission (IEBC) has identified 12 countries where Kenyans in the diaspora will be able to vote.
This is even though the voter registration published by IEBC shows around 6,221 new diaspora voters registered in the last registration exercise.
Of approximately two million Kenyans residing in various countries, 10,444 are eligible to vote for their preferred presidential candidate in the August 9 poll.
The countries verified by the commission are Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, South Africa, UK, Canada, US, South Sudan, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Germany.
Australia is not among the countries.
The statistics, however, show that Qatar leads with 1,437 votes, while neighboring Tanzania comes second with 1,402. They are followed by Uganda and Rwanda with 1,211 and 1,090 votes, respectively.
South Africa has 958, South Sudan (977), Germany (314), the United Kingdom (798), the United Arab Emirates (745), Canada (366) and the United States (744).
Kenya Diaspora Alliance Chairman Shem Ochuodho had earlier raised concerns about the IEBC’s plans to cover diasporas who reside far from polling stations, making it difficult for them to travel miles to cast their votes.
“This is because IEBC does not provide the necessary infrastructure and there are poorly located polling stations to register diaspora voters,” he said.
