Kenyans in South African and in the diaspora voted outside Kenya for the first time, in the country’s general elections.
About 788 of Kenya’s 20 million registered voters cast their ballot at the Kenyan embassy in Pretoria on Tuesday.
A first for the Kenyan patrons, this follows confusion and disappointment during the 2013 elections.
At that time, although Kenya’s constitution made provisions for people in the diaspora to vote, their right was cancelled days before the elections.
In previous years, dozens died in pre-election violence fueled by ethnic divisions.
The 2017 election process has largely been peaceful.
Kenyan High Commissioner in South Africa Jean Kamau says, “This being the first time that we extended the votes outside Kenya into South Africa, it’s a significant achievement for our electoral process, and also for the realisation for the right to vote for Kenyans outside Kenya. So, we are quite pleased that happened, from planning to actualisation and the turnout is really good.”
IEBC Preceding Officer Shyller Jillo says, “Few challenges that we had is that some Kenyans are registered in Kenya, coming to vote in South Africa. Definitely, we cannot allow them to vote, since you have to be registered in Pretoria to vote here. Apart from that everything else is ok.”
Vote counting will start immediately and results are expected within 24 to 48 hours.
Related video click below
– By SABC
