Party Primaries and low turnout

Deputy President William Ruto’s party, United Democratic Alliance (UDA), went into the primaries on Thursday hoping to showcase its popularity, especially in Rift Valley and Mount Kenya region. With such expectations and knowing that his opponents were waiting for any slight stumble, the party performed largely above average.

However, in both big parties that is UDA and ODM there was low turn out. Even though UDA says that it has some eight million registered members who were eligible to vote in the primaries, the turnout was not as expected.

Traditionally, turnout in party primaries, like in by-elections, is usually not as high as in the General Election but given the UDA’s intention was to show how popular the party is, low voter participation blighted the otherwise smooth exercise.

Given that the DP’s core bases are his backyard of Rift Valley and the mountain, anything that affects the turnout in the regions in the General Election will hugely impact on his State House bid.
for instance ibn kericho county only 36% of the registered voters turn out for the nominations in laikipia only 25% and kirinyaga% respectively

Kiambu which in 2017 had 1.2 million registered voters only saw 138,384 people participate in the governor nomination unlike in the battle between Ferdinand Waititu and William Kabogo which attracted over 423,520 voters. According to the latest vote-listing by IEBC, Kiambu has 1.3 million registered voters.

Only a handful of UDA supporters turned out to nominate their candidates in Murang’a.

A spot check in most polling stations revealed a low enthusiasm among residents, with only a few trickling in at a time.

In the turnout the DP will have to go an extra mile to improve on ahead of the August polls. By using the IEBC register, the party opened up for even none members to vote in the primaries but still, the turnout, particularly in the mountain region, was less impressive.

The situation was not different in odm party……although most big wigs in the party were we given direct ticket Analysis of governor race in busia of the just-concluded 0DM nominations indicate that Raila has a tough job ahead. out of the 351,044 registered voters only 80,026 turn out to participate in the execise which attributes to 22% of the votes in the region

WITH THE LOW VOTER TURN OUT PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFUL WILL HAVE TO GA BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD TO WHIP THEIR SUPPORT BASE TO TURN OUT IN THE AUGUST POLL