VOTER EDUCATION AND VOTING PARTICIPATION IN THE 2022 GENERAL ELECTIONS IN NAIROBI CITY COUNTY, KENYA
VOTER EDUCATION AND VOTING PARTICIPATION IN THE 2022 GENERAL ELECTIONS IN NAIROBI CITY COUNTY, KENYA
Jeremy Muriki Kimbui - Student, Master of Arts in Leadership and Governance, Kenyatta University, Kenya
Felix Kiruthu - Lecturer, Department of Public Policy and Administration, Kenyatta University, Kenya
ABSTRACT
Voter education plays a crucial role in the democratic process by providing voters with the necessary knowledge and skills to make informed voting decisions. Despite the efforts of the electoral commission and NGOs to promote voter education, the impact has been very limited as the voter turnout in Nairobi City County for the 2022 General Elections was much lower than anticipated. A considerable number of eligible voters did not participate or showed only a slight comprehension of the electoral process which led to questioning the success of the current voter training programs. For this reason, the research wanted to identify the impact of voter education on voting participation in Nairobi County during the 2022 general elections. The study specifically intended to assess the effect of civic education and voter information on the turnout in the 2022 general elections in Nairobi County. A descriptive research design was used and it was based on Civic Voluntarism Model (CVM) theory and Rational Choice theory. The target population included election officials who were actively involved in the 2022 general elections, constituting a census with all 154 elections officials being selected as respondents. It consulted primary and secondary data with a semi-structured questionnaire used as the primary data collection tool while election publications comprised the secondary data source. Respondents were IEBC commissioners, returning officers and presiding officers, polling clerks, election supervisors, election observers and election agents. Statistical methods like mean and standard deviation were utilized to evaluate quantitative data while correlation and multiple regression analysis applied to interpret numerical trends and relationships. The study established that both civic education (β=0.167, p=0.013<0.05) and voter information (β=0.124, p=0.032<0.05) had considerable effect on voting participation in the 2022 general elections. The study concludes that civic education had the highest significant predictor of voting participation in the 2022 general elections. It was recommended that voter civic education should be an ongoing initiative at IEBC, even after the end of an election. IEBC can partner with agencies like Huduma Centres to ensure increased voter information which was seen to have significant effect on voting participation and also leverage the latest technologies including social media to enhance voter awareness.
