The controversial issue of whether it is practically possible for a majority of Kenyans living abroad to cast their votes in the coming general election.
Well, the independent electoral and boundaries commission has set up a team to draft a policy guideline on Diaspora voting, but experts warn that while indeed it is possible to make the Diaspora vote count in the election, the process is fraught with many challenges which must be surmounted. Alex Chamwada takes a look at the challenges ahead.
Diaspora Voting In Kenya: A Promise Denied
In 2010, Kenya extended voting rights to its estimated 3,000,000 citizens living abroad, thus joining a growing number of countries in Africa and around the world to recognize emigrant voting rights.
Yet despite a politically engaged diaspora, intensive government outreach to emigrants, and high-stakes electoral competition, fewer than 3,000 Kenyans were permitted to vote from abroad in the 2013 and 2017 presidential elections.
What explains the failure of the Kenyan government to implement diaspora voting on a broader scale?
Drawing on original interviews and archival documents, this article analyses the tumultuous battle over the adoption and implementation of external voting in Kenya, focusing especially on legal, logistical, and political challenges.
We argue that uncertainty about the number of Kenyan emigrants and their political preferences, paired with a highly competitive electoral climate, meant there was little political will to push for more widespread implementation of diaspora voting.
Our analysis of external voting in Kenya has implications for diaspora participation in other competitive electoral contexts across the continent and beyond.
Source-https://globalcit.eu/
