Registration of southern voters in Kenya proceeding smoothly amid declining turnout

By Muhammad Osman

November 19, 2010 (NAIROBI) – Voter-registration in the Kenyan capital Nairobi for south Sudan’s upcoming vote on independence took off as scheduled on Monday, November 15, and has hitherto been proceeding smoothly.

However, Sudan Tribune has learned that the high turnout of voters reported in the first few days in Nairobi has abated steadily as the exercise entered its fourth day.

Voter registration for south Sudan’s referendum on full independence from the north commenced domestically and abroad on 15 November amid reports of high turnout in the south, where 2,635 centers out of 3000 are based inside Sudan.

Registration is scheduled to last until December 01, only five weeks before the start of the actual vote on January, 09 2011.

The politically sensitive plebiscite, which is widely expected to split Africa’s largest country in two, was stipulated in a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war between north and south Sudan.

Kenya is among eight places designated to host out-of-country registration centers. The rest are: Australia, Canada, Egypt, Ethiopia, Uganda, the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States of America (USA).

The 12 registration centers in Kenya are divided up as follows: two centers in Nairobi, two centers in Eldoret town and one in Nakuru town of the Rift Valley Province in western Kenya, one center in Kitale western town, two centers in Dadaab in the North Eastern province and four centers in Kakuma town in north west Kenya.

Kakuma town hosts Kenya Refugee Camp which shelters an estimated number of 23,000 southern Sudanese, according to the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR.

On Friday, Sudan Tribune visited the registration center at Nairobi Railway Club where the scene inside appeared orderly and calm. The center’s staff members were wearing yellow outfits and sitting in front of ten tables spread across the large room.

Voter-registration abroad is being carried out by the Southern Sudan Referendum Commission (SSRC), which oversees the process, in tandem with and the International Organization of Migration, who had one official present at the center.

A handful of registrants interviewed by Sudan Tribune all attested that the registration process was easy and smooth. A young southern registrant with the name George described the process as “smooth”, adding that people were only required to produce their passport or a written certificate from the UNHCR.

Last month, the US-based Carter Center cast doubts on how the eligibility of southern voters would be determined, saying that the Referendum Act provides “little guidance” on what documents will potential voters be required to produce in order to prove their eligibility.

(ST)