By Eunice Omollo
Today, 9 August 2022, is election day.
According to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, which manages elections in Kenya, there are 46,229 polling stations in Kenya gazetted for the 2022 election. However, as the election began, posts on social media circulated, stating that Kenyans living in Australia had voted.
One Twitter user tweeted: “DIASPORA UPDATE Voting has ended at Kenya High Commission in Canberra, Australia.All 423 Kenyans have voted, (100% Turnout) and the polling officials had no otherwise but to count the votes. Raila Odinga – 98 William Ruto – 319 Waihiga Mwaure – 0 Wajackoyah – 6”
Political pundit Herman Manyora also tweeted a screenshot page from a Facebook user on the same results. He captioned: “ Could this be a sign of things to come, a trend? Good morning.” Accompanying the picture was a photo of a person seemingly voting. Other users shared the same post on Facebook
Are Kenyans based “Down Under” voting in this election?
The photo accompanying Manyora’s post is not of a voter in Australia, but a demonstration of the voting process that took place on 7 August 2022 in Nairobi, two days before the election.
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission tweeted a status update at 2:37pm. It noted that diaspora voting was only taking place in 12 countries: Burundi, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, South Africa, United Kingdom, Canada, USA, South Sudan, Qatar, UAE and Germany. Australia was not included.
