By Ally Jamah
KENYA: An international observer group in the March 4 polls wants the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to address its shortcommings.
Country Director of the Carter Centre Election Observation Mission Stephanie Mondon enumerated IEBC’s faults in the elections as technological and operational failures, very long queues on election day, inaccurate electronic results and information on spoiled votes having not been provided with a secure electronic voter identification system, and being presented with uneven turnout figures on Forms 36.
“The Centre calls on the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to speedily conduct an internal review of its handling of the voter register and an audit of its tallying to avoid these deficiencies in future elections,” she said.
In its latest statement released yesterday, the Carter Centre said the paper-based procedure for counting and tallying presented enough guarantees to preserve the expression of the will of Kenyan voters.
She added: “First hand access to information is key in conducting credible and impartial observation, and the Carter Centre regrets the IEBC decision to confine party agents and observers to the gallery of the national tally centre, making effective observation impossible,” said the statement.
They said in the absence of access to compiled documents and to IEBC personnel, the national tally of the presidential results forms was effectively rendered non-transparent for stakeholders and observers.
