Publish list of dead voters, UDM official tells IEBC
What you need to know:
- UDM National Organising Secretary Paul Cheboi said that the refusal by IEBC registration clerks to issue old voters with voting cards to confirm their names are in the current register and in the biometric records, could be a loophole capable of locking out thousands of voters from casting their ballots in August.
- The IEBC requires voters registered between 2012 and 2016 to physically go to a registration centre and electronically confirm their registration status.
United Democratic Movement (UDM) party wants Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission to issue confirmation codes and cards to voters registered before the 2013 elections.
The party says this will ensure that voters are not locked out in the August General Election.
UDM National Organising Secretary Paul Cheboi said that the refusal by IEBC registration clerks to issue old voters with voting cards to confirm their names are in the current register and in the biometric records, could be a loophole capable of locking out thousands of voters from casting their ballots in August.
“If such a voter is denied to vote during an election day on the excuse that name or biometric particulars does not appear in the computer or the manual register and is challenged to present a voting card or the voter's registered number for verification, which he or she was not provided with at the time of registration, will that voter vote, the answer is definitely no,” said Cheboi on Tuesday.
He was speaking by phone from Mombasa where he is meeting UDM County Coordinators on party membership drive and monitoring the ongoing voter registration exercise.
Mr Cheboi also claimed that voters are not allowed to confirm whether their names or biometrics exist.
To him, this is window for double registration and inclusion of dead voters in the register which he argued was recipe for election violence.
“These voters’ biometrics are not captured at the time of their registration or issued with his or her voter's verification card number,” he said.
The IEBC requires voters registered between 2012 and 2016 to physically go to a registration centre and electronically confirm their registration status.
He called on new IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati to move with speed to correct the anomaly in order to avert a crisis during Election Day.
Further, he wants IEBC to publish on its website names of dead voters and further convene a meeting of political parties in order to address the issue.
“The dead should be allowed to rest in their sleeping places for when the dead are allowed to vote, they kill the living,” said Mr Cheboi.
