Election observers call for independent audit of voter register ahead 2027 elections
The observers asserted that the new commission which shall be in place soon must prioritize assessing and cleaning the register adding that there needs to be a complete overhaul.
Election Observers Group (ELOG) has called for an independent audit of the register of voters by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) ahead of the 2027 General elections.
ELOG cited anomalies and irregularities in the 2022 elections as the basis of the call for the audit.
In a statement today, ELOG emphasized the long-standing issues affecting the register of voters.
The stated that the 2012 and 2017 audits revealed errors of dead people still in the record together with duplicate records.
“There are persistent errors and anomalies that are concerning,” they stated.
The election observers revealed that in the 2012 audit, 143,530 errors were discovered in 2012 while 169,646 were found in the 2017 audit.
They raised concerns several deceased voters are still in the register.
The group further expressed dissatisfaction their inability to conduct an audit of the last election voter register despite their formal request to access the data confidentially under the Data protection Act.
“ELOG was not able to conduct another independent audit of the 2022 elections despite a formal request to IEBC which was supported by an affidavit deposited to the Office of the Data Protection to safeguard privacy and confidentiality of the data,” they stated.
The observers asserted that the new commission which shall be in place soon must prioritize assessing and cleaning the register adding that there needs to be a complete overhaul.
They have advocated for active public and stakeholder participation in the audit and verification of the voter register in order to increase transparency.
The audit by KMPG revealed that one million deceased voters are still listed in the register by IEBC raising concerns of electoral fraud.
Their statement comes after Royal Media Services Chairman S.K Macharia raised concerns about the current register of voters over the last weekend.
Macharia noted that disputed elections from 2007 to the 2022 polls exposed serious flaws in voter registration and management, as he renewed calls for reform.
