Kenya’s electoral commission, IEBC, kicked off continuous voter registration today, targeting 6.3 million new voters ahead of the 2027 General Election. The exercise, which launches in Kajiado County before expanding nationwide, marks the first registration drive since June 2022.
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission is setting up shop at all 290 constituency offices and Huduma Centres across the country. If you’re 18 or older and haven’t registered before, all you need is your national ID or passport.
IEBC Commissioner Alutalala Mukhwana announced the launch, explaining that the commission had initially planned to start this on August 8 but faced delays. Now they’re moving forward as the constitution requires.
The registration isn’t just for first-timers, though. Current voters can update their details, fix errors in their records, or transfer to a different polling station if they’ve moved. You can also verify your information is correct in the system.
There are a few disqualifications worth noting. You can’t register if you’ve been convicted of an election offense in the past five years or if you’ve been declared mentally unsound. Otherwise, any Kenyan citizen of voting age who possesses a valid ID is eligible to register.
The commission is working with a KES 57.3 billion budget for the entire election cycle. IEBC has carved out KES 8 billion specifically for voter registration, plus another KES 2.5 billion for voter education and getting the word out.
They’re also spending KES 7 billion to replace old election technology and KES 2.4 billion on system maintenance. The KIEMS kits they’re using now are more advanced than previous versions.
They scan and capture biometric data instead of relying on manual entry, which should cut down on errors. The information goes straight to IEBC databases, and they clean the data regularly to make sure dead people don’t end up on voter rolls.
IEBC Chairperson Erastus Ethekon says they’re not using census data this time around. Instead, they’re pulling numbers from the National Registration Bureau to figure out how many people will be of voting age during the exercise.
The goal is to grow the voter base from 22.1 million to over 28 million.
Political parties and analysts are already eyeing this registration period closely. The thinking is that young voters, especially Gen Z, could swing the 2027 election in a major way.
The registration runs continuously from now until the elections, though it’s paused in areas holding by-elections. The commission is urging people not to wait until the last minute.
