The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) is under pressure to make public the conclusions of KPMG audit of the voter registration.
There is no clear information on the number and locations of additional polling stations, the path of results transmission, or the circumstances behind the abandoning of text data to ensure live broadcasting.
There are also concerns about the business providing the election technology’s due diligence and the failure to make available a voter registration audit report two months after it was completed.
In 2017, the IEBC disaggregated data on 40,883 polling stations by counties, seats, and wards.
Speaking yesterday, Francis Mukwanja, the executive director of the Centre for Multi-Party Democracy (CMD) noted that the advocacy organizations under the banner of Uchaguzi said that delays in making the KPMG report public puts the electoral commission on the position, as the majority of Kenyans remain sceptical about the commission’s readiness to hold the polls next month.
“Without a credible register, it is difficult to assess the quality and honesty of elections. We, therefore, urge IEBC to release the audit report and fast track the process of sharing the aggregated voters list for inspection by interested individuals and organisations,” Mukwanja said.
However, this year it has listed 46,233 polling stations without mentioning how they are dispersed, making it difficult to determine where the additional polling stations are located.
According to IEBC, images of the outcomes of results declaration forms will be used as the major data source, rather than alphanumeric data from the results. As a result of having to manually enter in findings from tens of thousands of images of forms shared by returning police, the real-time transmission may be delayed.
“The country does not know whether the commission audited the current kits before purchasing new ones,” he continued. If so, why hasn’t the report been made public?”
As per lobbying groups, the voter registration has been at the focus of electoral disputes and irregularities, including the transfer of voters without their knowledge.
They also stated that the polling agency confirmed that a simulation exercise done a few weeks prior revealed numerous flaws.
“We urge IEBC to ensure that gaps and failures noted in the previous exercise are eliminated. The country cannot afford a systematic failure, as was witnessed in the first simulation”, they said.
Only 1,200 of the 2,900 polling stations selected for the dry run properly relayed data during a simulation last month. The simulation had a 59percent failure rate, raising concerns about the IEBC’s readiness to handle the polls, which are only 22 days away.
The parties also pointed out inconsistencies between IEBC declarations on 3G network coverage given in April and June.
They pointed out that commissioner Francis Wanderi reported that more over 260 voting locations lacked 3G coverage, compared to 1,111 announced in June.
Lobby groups urged that the IEBC publish all polling sites without 3G or 4G service, as well as county centres from where the results will be sent.
“Despite the sensitivity of the offence, we are yet to see any stern action being taken. In the possibility that this is not an isolated incident, the integrity of the elections will be seriously compromised,” said Mukwanja.