The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, (IEBC), will roll out the second stage of Enhanced Continuous Voter Registration. This is in preparation for August 9th.Th General Elections.
IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati said the commission received additional funding from the Treasury to facilitate the second and final phase of the continuous voter registration which he said targets to register 4.5 million new voters who were left out in the first phase.
The Commission rolled out Phase I of Enhanced Continuous Voter Registration (ECVR) exercise from October 4th to November 5, 2021, where a total of 1,519,294 eligible Kenyans were registered as new voters out of the targeted 6 million.
Briefing the press on the commission’s preparedness in Naivasha, Chebukati assured that the Commission was on course in planning and was putting in place measures and mechanisms to ensure free, fair, credible, verifiable, accountable and transparentGeneral Elections
The Chairman said That The second phase of ECVR would offer another opportunity to eligible Kenyans, who missed the first phase in terms of registering as voters, transferring polling station or changing their particulars.
“It is your constitutional right to register and vote in your preferred leaders come 9th August 2022,” Chebukati told eligible youths who missed out in the first phase.
Chebukati stated that the diaspora voter registration would begin on 21st January 2022 and end on 6Th February 2022 with the exercise being conducted during the official working hours at the Kenyan Embassies, High Commissions and Consulates in respective countries.
He said that the Commission would use Biometric Voter Registration kits (BVR) to capture biometric as well as biographic details of voters.
At the same time, the chairman said ECVR II captured eligible Kenyan voters living in Burundi, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda and South Africa, who participated in 2017 General Election, adding that the Commission would extend diaspora voter registration exercise to seven more countries namely, the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, South Sudan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Germany.
Chebukati clarified however that a registered voter in diaspora would only vote for the Presidential elective position.
The chairman stated that Section 8A of 2011’s Elections Act required the Commission to engage a professional reputable company to audit the Register of Voters. This was to verify the accuracy of this register, make recommendations to improve its accuracy, and update the register. He said that this would be done after the ECVR Phase II is closed.
He stated that the Commission was looking for a firm who would perform the audit. The firm should give a report in thirty (30) day, and the commission would then implement the recommendations within thirty (30).
BY Esther Mwangi Calvin Osiemo
Source: kenyanews
