Kenyan
JF-Expert Member
- Jun 7, 2012
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IEBC Insists It Will Only Use Electronic Voter Register During August Polls
- IEBC says it arrived at the decision basing on the Court of Appeal judgment of 2017 when NASA had gone to court seeking orders to overturn a High Court ruling that found that the commission had provided complimentary voter identification mechanism.
- Azimio presidential candidate Raila Odinga and several civil society organisations have questioned IEBC’s rationale in its directive.
The electoral agency says it arrived at the decision basing on the Court of Appeal judgment of 2017 when the defunct National Super Alliance (NASA) had gone to court seeking orders to overturn a High Court ruling that found that the commission had provided complimentary voter identification mechanism.
Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition party presidential candidate Raila Odinga and several civil society organisations have questioned IEBC’s rationale in its directive.
While meeting the Kenya Editors Guild (KEG) in Kwale County on Friday, the commission responded to concerns raised by Odinga and the civil society groups.
IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati said: “Biometric verification is the primary mode of identifying voters. Where a voter cannot be identified using biometrics, then the presiding officers shall use a complementary mechanism of alpha numeric search in the presence of agents.”
Commissioner Abdi Guliye added: “The failure rate is supposed to be very low because we have 10 fingerprints and we only need one…so if one fails, you go to the next one until all the 10 are exhausted.”
The commission termed the administrative directive the ultimate solution to electoral malpractices.
“We recruit poll officials from Kenyans, we know who they are. If they are all belonging to one community and they have a preferred candidate, they can decide to collude and say hii register iko na watu wetu, wacha tucross alafu tuwavotie. We’re trying to avoid something like that,” added Guliye.
Among the concerns raised by Odinga include the collapse of the electronic voter identification system by default or design, thereby denying the electorate an opportunity to exercise their democratic right at the ballot.
But the commission says the backup complimentary kits through the Kenya Integrated Elections Management System (KIEMS) will be good enough and no voter will be turned away.
“If there is a total failure of the primary kit and backup kits, then the presiding officer will report the same to the returning officer and there is a protocol for that. Now is when the complimentary mechanism will kick in, that means you will resort to the register,” said Guliye.
Odinga, through his chief legal advisor Paul Mwangi, questions Chebukati’s change of heart, after rooting for manual identification of voters and results transmission as a complementary measure in the 2017 general election.
According to Odinga, who was in the 2013 and 2017 presidential races, technology failure on election day is likely.
He termed Chebukati’s directive risky, since it is based on an assumption that the KIEMS kits will work seamlessly.
In court, are seven civil society organisations challenging IEBC’s decision. The groups have asked the High Court to compel IEBC to restore the use of the manual register.
These concerns are shared by ODM party national chairman John Mbadi, who wants the commission to use both the manual and electronic registers in the August 9th polls.
“We would want electronic voter identification because it minimises theft of votes, but previously we have seen cases where the system has failed and it has been consistent, and we have a concern that it may not be different,” said Mbadi.
The electoral body has scheduled a meeting with the four presidential candidates on Wednesday to reach a consensus over the matter.
