There have been a number of images shared on the internet, claiming to show voters in different polling stations. Two of these were shared on Twitter. One claims to show voters queuing in Gatundu, Kiambu county and another, Nyeri.
Background
In this year’s general elections, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) registered 22.1 million voters, the highest so far. 49.12% of these are women, while men at 50.88% of the total voters.
While these elections accounted for the largest number of registered voters, there was a low voter turnout. About 65% of the 22.1 million registered voters cast their votes, the lowest since the most recent two elections in 2017 and 2007.
Verification
Meanwhile, a reverse image search shows that the image alleged to have been taken in Nyeri was in fact taken in South Africa. The search results bring up an article published by NBC news. The article attributes this image to 1994, during South Africa’s first all-race elections which saw the late Nelson Mandela elected as the country’s first black president. Equally, the Associated Press in this gallery attributes the image to Dennis Farrell.
The second image,just like the first one, was similarly taken in South Africa. The earliest it appears on the internet is May 20, 2020. This image was taken during a food aid programme in Pretoria, South Africa, amid COVID-19 outbreak two years ago. In 2020, COVID-19 was considered a threat to food security globally.
Verdict
NO, these images are not related to the recent elections in Kenya.
This fact-check was produced by Africa Uncensored with support from Code for Africa’s PesaCheck, African Fact Checking Alliance network and the United Nations Development Programme.
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