Members of Parliament are pushing for the recognition of national identity card as a valid voting document other than a passport for the over four million Kenyans in the diaspora.
The move seeks to expand electoral inclusivity and remove barriers to participation ahead of the 2027 General Election.
Currently, Kenyans in the diaspora can only vote if they have a valid passport and upon registration by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
However, the Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee (CIOC) of the National Assembly in a report to the House on the status of the IEBC’s implementation of the constitution, notes that “this limits some since passports have an expiry date.”
“Other than the voting card issued by the electoral commission upon registration, the national identity card should also be considered as a valid voting document for Kenyans in the diaspora,” the committee says in its report to the House.
Suba South MP Caroli Omondi.
Photo credit: Dennis Onsongo | Nation Media Group
CIOC is chaired by Suba South MP Caroli Omondi and is responsible for overseeing the implementation of the constitution by the government agencies.
Article 83 of the constitution provides for the qualification for one to register as a voter, with the legal requirements being possession of a national identity card or a valid Kenyan passport.
Kenya’s population in the diaspora has seen a significant rise recently, reaching the milestone as per documents from the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) and the State Department for Diaspora Affairs.
The diaspora population is widely distributed across key global hubs, with the United States (US) at about 159,000 as of early 2025, hosting the largest single community.
The United Kingdom (UK) is the second most popular diaspora community for Kenyans, with at least 144,000 Kenyan residents.
In the Middle East, about 30,000 Kenyans live in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar.
In Africa, thousands of Kenyans live and work in the neighbouring countries of Uganda and Tanzania, Rwanda as well as down south- South Africa.
The other regions with notable Kenyan diaspora communities include Canada, Australia and Germany, with a combined population of at least 13,000.
Other than pushing for the recognition of the national identity card as a voting document for Kenyans in diaspora, the Caroli-led committee wants IEBC to provide detailed plans for expanding the diaspora voter registration centres beyond the current 12 countries.
This is with specific targets for the 2027 General election and a roadmap for progressive realization of diaspora voting rights as decreed by the constitution.
The IEBC documents show that the 2013 elections, the first under the 2010 constitution, marked the first-ever diaspora voting exercise in Kenya's history, with implementation limited to four East African Community (EAC) member States of Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi.
“The 2017 polls saw an incremental expansion of diaspora voting to include South Africa, bringing the total number of participating countries to five,” reads the CIOC report.
According to the CIOC report, the 2022 elections marked “the most significant expansion of diaspora voting to date, with the operationalisation of voting rights in the 12 countries.”
This expansion, CIOC says, included the addition of the United States of America, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and South Sudan to the existing list.
Articles 38 and 82 of the constitution guarantee all Kenyan citizens the right to political participation, including voting, regardless of their geographic location.
Article 82 (1) (e) of the constitution further guaranteed the progressive realization of the voting rights for Kenyan citizens residing outside the country.
The policy on voter registration and voting for citizens residing outside Kenya, established in 2015 and reviewed in 2021, provides the framework for operationalising the diaspora voting right.
IEBC, in documents before parliament, notes that despite the progress made in the realisation of the diaspora voting right, a paltry 10,443 diaspora voters were registered for the 2022 general election across the 12 countries, with a 58 percent turnout.
The commission noted that the Elections Act 2011 and the Elections (Registration of Voters) Regulations of 2012, established the legal framework for diaspora voting and assigned the IEBC the responsibility to operationalise “these provisions.”
IEBC clerks register students during the launch of voter listing of college students at UoN Towers at the University of Nairobi on October 13, 2021.
Photo credit: Francis Nderitu | Nation Media Group
The 2021 voter registration exercise for citizens residing outside the country started on December 6, 2021, for a period of 15 days, concluding on December 20, 2021.
Prior to the commencement of the exercise, the IEBC published in the Kenya Gazette, the names of registration centres and countries in which registration and voting was scheduled to take place and the period of registration.
The committee notes that in order to enhance voter registration and voting for citizens residing outside Kenya, the IEBC “is in the process of reviewing and developing its implementation plan to, among others, expand voter registration centres for Kenyan citizens residing outside Kenya.”
“This is to ensure progressive realisation of their voting rights as mandated by the constitution,” says CIOC.
