Inside Politics

Kibra by-election: Win for ODM as court orders IEBC to release voter register

Wednesday, November 6th, 2019 16:04 | By

The High Court has ordered Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to immediately release the complete Kibra Constituency voters' register to Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) ahead of the November 7 by-election.

Justice James Makau ruled that the IEBC violated ODM's right for failing to give the updated register.

On their part, the electoral commission tried to persuade the judge to grant them stay of the judgement for seven days saying it will be difficult to execute the order.

The IEBC said their IT department will require more time to reconfigure the register to provide the same to the petitioners.

The judge declined to grant stay order saying it will be rendering the judgement nugatory.

Justice Makau, however, gave them leave to appeal.

The party, through lawyer Jackson Awele, had petitioned the court to order the electorate commission to publish the Kibra Constituency voters’ register containing the names, national ID and passport numbers, telephone numbers and their respective polling stations and centers in all polling stations and in the public online portal.

"An order of mandamus compelling the respondent( IEBC) to supply voters in Kibra Constituency and the public at large with the voters’ register containing all the information prescribed in Form A of the Schedule to the Elections (Registration of Voters)Regulations 2012 in all polling stations and in the public online portal," says ODM.

ODM moved to court claiming that from the incomplete register of voters, they have been able to sample out names of persons who though eligible and previously registered to vote are missing from the register under unclear circumstances. 

They also argue that they have received complaints by some voters including Rosemary Nandiri Otieka and Bernard Atsiaya Ibagore who claim their names are not in the register two days to the by-election scheduled for November 7.

Atsiaya, in his affidavit filed in court, says that since Kibra Constituency seat was declared vacant, he is yet to see the said register in his polling station and all his inquiries for the same at the commission’s offices have borne no fruit.  

“My name is missing from the purported register of voters by IEBC. I wish to confirm that I have never applied to be transferred as a voter and neither did I receive any notification of changes to my registration details as required by regulation 10 of the Elections (Registration of voters) Regulations 2012,” he says  

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