– Electoral body disputes claims of bias in distribution of voter registration kits favouring “Jubilee zones” ahead of “mass voter registration”
– ODM to aid unregistered voters in Raila Odinga zones get enrolled with the IEBC in a bid to boost his presidential candidature
– IEBC is expected to start voter listing on Monday February 15, 2016
The Independent and Electoral Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has dismissed claims by the opposition that it intends to list more voters in areas of the country where President Uhuru Kenyatta has favourable support.
IEBC spokesperson Tabitha Mutemi said the notion that some areas perceived to be opposition have received less (biometric voter registration, BVR) kits than those branded as Jubilee strongholds is misleading.
The commission was responding to concerns raised by the Coalition for Reform and Democracy (Cord) on Saturday February 13, 2016 where the party claimed that the BVR kits were being distributed unfairly ahead of one month registration exercise.
The exercise kicks off on Monday February 15, 2016 through to March 15, 2016 in preparation for voter listing of the 2017 general election.
“The commission has had to strike a balance between all possible variables in the distribution of the kits. Of higher concern was how much time it will take to move one kit from one place to the other or how far a potential voter will have to travel to reach a kit (registration centre),” Mutemi said.
She noted that IEBC was in a crisis as it is not sufficiently funded to have BVR kits in each corner of the country for what they have christened “mass voter registaration.”
“It is public knowledge that the commission is carrying out this exercise with numerous constraints. Indeed it is only last week that, with the support of donors through the basket fund, the IEBC was able to double the number of kits being deployed to the registration drive.”
There are now nearly 6,000 BVR kits that will be used during the listing after the European Union injected KSh 500 million for the purchase of the half of the equipment.
Although dissatisfied with the conduct of the IEBC, Raila Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement on Friday February 12, 2016 unveiled new plans to have voters in zones that support the opposition leader registered.
The party said that it had set aside resources to have the elderly and disabled persons in areas where Raila has a huge political base to take them to registration centres.
ODM has also appointed political leaders to compile a list of unregistered voters in areas such as Western and Nyanza zones.
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