Voter Apathy in Kenya’s 2022 General Elections: Rethinking Our Democratic Consolidation Process

Abstract

Kenya’s 2022 general elections held on the 9th of August have confirmed what political commentators had intimated before the polls. There were predictions that voter apathy among youth was likely to feature in this election. Disillusionment with politics, marked by a general mistrust of the politicians and pessimism about the future has been attributed to the low civic engagement with the electoral process. The signs of voter apathy were further demonstrated by a low turnout for fresh registration of voters by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) before the 2022 elections.