(CP-Africa) – Kenyans have started voting  today  for a referendum aimed at improving governance and promoting democracy.

With support from President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, a “yes” vote in the referendum aims to install a new constitution which would herald changes in the way government is run in Kenya including the installation of a two tier parliamentary structure and a decentralization of power from the Presidency.

For more detailed coverage, read CNN’s Q&A feature on the details of the Kenyan referendum process as well as its implications for the African and global community

Watch CNN’s coverage of the referendum preparations and listen to some commentary from Raila Odinga among others

Many predict a “yes” vote win.

Watch The Nation’s interview/feature of President Mwai Kibaki below

[pro-player]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21uUAC2BueU[/pro-player]

However, nay voters remain vociferous.

Here are some election stats from the Nation:

• 12,656,451 Kenyans (12.6 million) have registered to vote in the referendum
• There are 27,689 polling stations.
• Voting will start August 4, 2010, from 6am and end at 5pm.
• All voting and counting is done manually; a new electronic tallying system will be tested.
• More than 27,000 GPRS-enabled mobile phones will be used to send results from polling stations to the constituency tallying centres.

• Electoral Region (not province) with highest number of registered voter is Nairobi with 1.3 million, and the region with lowest number of voters is Garissa/Ijara with 76,563 voters.
• 49% of the newly registered voters are women (North Rift recorded the highest number of women voters whilst Wajir had the lowest number of women registered).

• 59% of newly registered voters are under the age of 40

In addition, technologies such as “Uchaguzi” (means “Decision” in Swahili) aim to use the Ushahidi platform to monitor  electoral malpractices.

Watch Erik Hersman (White African) and others talk about Uchaguzi
[pro-player]http://vimeo.com/13862365[/pro-player]

We wish Kenyans voting today the best of luck and hope that all goes well! [Lead image via the Nation]

-CP-Africa