AFRICA/KENYA - Controversy on the use of the manual voting system instead of the electronic system

Thursday, 5 January 2017 elections  

Nairobi (Agenzia Fides) - Kenya is waiting for the decision of the Senate Legal Affairs Committee to confirm or not the amendment voted by Parliament on December 22. The Bill provides for use of a manual backup in identification of voters and transmission of election results in the event the electronic system fails in the scheduled August 2017 general elections.
The opposition led by Raila Odinga had opposed stating that recourse to manual voting opens the door to possible electoral fraud.
"They are used to stealing elections using voters registers. They are used to waking the dead so they vote before returning to the grave", said Odinga.
Even the Episcopal "Justice and Peace" Commission had expressed its opposition to the amendment. "We remind the MPs who voted the amendment that this goes against the spirit of electoral reforms jointly established in August 2016 by the Joint Parliamentary Secret Comittee" said a statement sent to Agenzia Fides.
"Justice and Peace" highlights that the media blackout imposed during the debate that led to the vote on the amendment "sets a bad precedent in view of the 2017 general elections".
"Justice and Peace" hopes that measures will be taken to "minimize the distrust, conflict and possible violence in the 2017 elections". (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 05/01/2017)


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