IEBC accused of printing 1.2 million extra ballot papers

 

Thirdway Party Presidential candidate Ekuru Aukot accompanied by his running mate Emmanuel Nzia addresses the media at Ridgeways Baptist Church, Kiambu County on Sunday 30/07/17. He raised alleged mischief behind printing of Presidential ballot papers.[Boniface Okendo,Standard]

A presidential candidate yesterday accused the electoral agency of printing 1.2 million extra ballot papers.

Speaking after a church service, Thirdway Alliance Kenya's Ekuru Aukot said the ballots were printed as part of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission's (IEBC) 'one per cent for contingency' measure.

"By design, the printed booklets had to be rounded off to the next 50-page ballot booklet. As a consequence, IEBC has been left with a total of 1.2 million extra ballot papers spread across virtually all the polling stations," he said.

He added that the 6.15 per cent extra ballots should be a cause for concern.

"IEBC must now turn its attention to the KIEMS (Kenya Integrated Elections Management System) to ensure that voting is credible. Used, unused and spoilt ballot papers must be reconciled properly and results tallied transparently and transmitted without any hitches," he said.

IEBC Communications Manager Andre Limo, however, said that there was no cause for alarm due to the additional papers.

"For uniformity purposes, we had to round off to 50 because there was no way we would make unmatched numbers for different counties," he said.

Last week, Aukot accused IEBC of printing presidential ballot papers in secrecy. [Nasibo Kabale]