Kenyans Pre-2012 Must Re-Register to Vote

Millions of Kenyan citizens who enrolled as voters prior to the 2013 General Elections must now complete a fresh registration with the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, as declared on Friday evening, April 3. In a recent statement, IEBC Chairman Erastus Ethekon announced, “Anyone who registered as a voter between 2012 and 2026 does not require re-registration.” The electoral body explains that this new registration process aims to incorporate earlier voters into the existing biometric Register of Voters (RoV). According to IEBC, the current biometric voter system was implemented in 2012 as part of significant electoral reforms, meaning voters who registered prior to that date are not included in this system. Therefore, individuals who had previously registered as voters before 2012 are not part of the current biometric RoV unless they have participated in a subsequent registration process,” the chairperson clarified.” This implies that all Kenyans who registered before November 2012, when the voter roll was finalized for the August 2013 General Election, must provide their biometric information once more to confirm their presence in the system and allow them to vote in the upcoming election. The political crisis of 2007/08 prompted reforms across various sectors, including the electoral framework. Kenyans who registered as voters before 2012 may need to register again to ensure their inclusion in the voter database,” stated IEBC chairman Erastus Ethekon.” Those who registered as voters between 2012 and 2026 are exempt from re-registration. The IEBC chairperson revealed that the voter register currently in use was established after the 2012 boundary realignment process. This transformation occurred after multiple electoral reforms that introduced biometric voter registration and changed how Kenyans are added to the electoral roll. All pre-2012 voter information was legally discarded,” Ethekon mentioned, noting that approximately 14.5 million voters were registered during the 2012 enrollment campaign.” The voter base expanded to 19.6 million by 2017 and reached 22.1 million in 2022 as additional Kenyans registered. Through the ongoing Enhanced Continuous Voter Registration (ECVR) initiative, the IEBC aims to further grow the biometric voter list. “We now target increasing the total to approximately 28.8 million voters through this current effort,” Ethekon stated.