By GEOFFREY MOSOKU, IEBC acting CEO Moses Sunkuli
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) says it is expanding diaspora voter registration to cover an additional 16 countries ahead of the 2027 elections.
The 16 new countries are Saudi Arabia, Botswana, Oman, Australia, Sweden, Switzerland (Bern), the Netherlands, Ghana, Italy, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Nigeria, Ireland, Türkiye, Ethiopia, China (Guangzhou) and Mozambique.
The 2025 diaspora population data indicates that approximately 1,464,676 Kenyans reside abroad, with only 629,688 registered with Kenyan diplomatic missions and just 10,443 registered as voters.
IEBC acting CEO Moses Sunkuli said the Commission will expand registration and voting to additional countries with substantial Kenyan populations, guided by objective criteria including population thresholds, operational feasibility, cost considerations, and the broader imperative of the progressive realisation of political rights.
The IEBC will also expand the exercise using mobile centres to cover more cities with Kenyan nationals in South Africa, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States.
It said it will deploy mobile registration centres in high-density diaspora locations, particularly in South Africa, Canada and the USA.
During the 2013 General Election, the Commission introduced diaspora voting in four East African countries, namely Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi, while South Africa was later added. In 2022, additional jurisdictions included the United States of America, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and South Sudan.
Sunkuli told MPs on Thursday that despite this progress, diaspora voter participation remained relatively modest compared to the estimated size of the Kenyan diaspora population, which numbers in the millions.
“As of the 2022 elections, 10,443 voters were registered, representing more than a twofold increase from 2017. However, voter turnout stood at 57.76%, with notable variations across countries,” he said.
To achieve the new targets, IEBC estimates the total cost of diaspora registration and voting activities at Sh502 million.
“However, it has been allocated a total figure of Sh400 million for both registration and voting activities. This allocation is limited and may jeopardise the Commission's plans on diaspora activities,” Sunkuli said.
The acting CEO told the parliamentary committee on Diaspora Affairs and Migrant Workers that, in addition to funding challenges, the agency faces legal hurdles in achieving progressive realisation of diaspora voting.
He explained that the current framework, particularly Regulation 34, ties diaspora registration and voting to the presence of Kenyan missions.
“The Commission is unable to fully operationalise the constitutional requirement of progressive realisation. The Commission requests the Committee's support in amending this provision to allow a more flexible, data-driven determination of registration and voting locations.”
Article 38 of the Constitution guarantees every adult citizen the right to be registered as a voter and to vote without unreasonable restrictions, while Article 82 requires electoral law to provide for the progressive registration of citizens residing outside the country and the progressive realisation of their right to vote.
