The Interim Independent Electoral Commission has registered a total of 49,508 in Bomachoge constituency as per last week’s figures.  Speaking in Ogembo town, the registration officer Mrs Jane Arita said they were targeting about 100,000 voters in the exercise that ended on Wednesday.

Out of those who have registered, 41,266 are existing voters while 6,790 are voters who turned 18 after the 2007 General Election.

The IIEC conducted a fresh voter registration exercise in Bomachoge and Shinyalu constituencies for four weeks ahead of the by-elections scheduled for August 27. Mrs Arita said officials at the Gucha office were compiling the final figure of registered voters.

She said they will come up with a voter register to be used for inspection and verification of data next week.

The verification exercise will be conducted in all 131 polling centres from August 4 to 8 after which IIEC shall compile a final voter register. Mrs Arita disclosed that a total of 1,442 voters had their names missing from the register even though they had taken part in the 2007 elections.

The commission had indicated that owing to the short time given for the exercise, it was not feasible to register more voters as expected. Some 70,500 voters took part in the 2007 elections in the constituency. Speaking in the constituency last week, IIEC commissioner Davies Chirchir said they had projected to list 60,000 voters in Bomachoge. Meanwhile, only one aspirant has picked up nomination papers from the Bomachoge returning officer, Mr Thomas Ingolo. Mr Ingolo said candidates have until July 31 to pick the papers. The commission has set August 3 and 4 as the dates for receiving nomination papers at Tendere secondary school main hall.