Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission rolls out voter registrationplan

IEBC plans to employ 5,756 clerks to intensify voter registration before the 2017 general elections. The exercise is scheduled to run from February 15 to March 15, 2016 across 1,450 wards.

The Commission plans to carry out a similar drive early next year although registration will continue at the Constituency level up to May 2017, when the register will be closed in readiness for the General Election.

Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Chairperson, Isaack Hassan. He has rolled out the voter registration plan ahead of the 2017 general elections. (PHOTO: FILE/ STANDARD)

The exercise will be carried out with funding from the Treasury and the support of the Development Partners through the donor basket. In addition, the Commission will deploy 290 ICT support assistants to cover both the head office and field operations. The training for these is ongoing.

A total of 5,756 BVRs kits will be deployed across the 1,450 wards where the larger the ward the more the kits and vice versa. This is to ensure that potential voters don’t travel long distances to register.

24,559 registration centres will be  used during this exercise with each voter expected to present themselves physically for the exercise.

The BVR kits will be locked to register only voters at polling stations that fall within the particular Ward. They must be physically present to register.

Those eligible to register are Kenyans who have recently attained the voting age of 18 years and have acquired national identity cards or those who were of voting age by 2012 but did not register for the last election due to various reasons. Registration will only be by valid Identity Card or Passport.

The Commission has appealed to all eligible Kenyans who have not registered to do so in order to participate in the next General Elections.