NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 5 — Azimio La Umoja — One Kenya Alliance presidential candidate Raila Odinga has raised 10 issues of concern in relation to the upcoming polls with the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) demanding answers from the electoral agency on measures in place to resolve the issues in question.
Odinga raised the questions on Sunday shortly after he was cleared to join the State House race alongside his running mate Martha Karua.
The first concern pointed out by Odinga is the issue of the electronic identification of voters and transmission of results during the August 9 polls.
“What we want to know is, has the Commission developed constitutionally compliant protocols in the results transmission path for the polling stations and the national tallying center? When will the commission share the said protocols with the stakeholders?” Odinga posed, in a question directed to IEBC Chairperson Wafula Chebukati.
Another concern raised by Odinga is the integrity of the voter register, in whose respect he demanded to know the status of the voter registration exercise on a county-by-county and constituency-by-constituency basis.
The Azimio presidential candidate further sought information on the audit of the register of voters.
“Is the preliminary report by the audit firm ready, if so, what are the preliminary findings?” he asked.
Odinga also sought an indication as to when the final report of the audit on the voters roll will be released.
He further inquired on the proposal to amend the regulation 3A of the Elections General Regulations which gives a Presiding Officer power to open a ballot box that has been sealed to remove wrongly put materials at the Constituency Tallying Center.
Other concerns raised by Odinga include the recruitment of Returning Officers in the polls and the printing of ballot papers.
He also inquired on the measures by the IEBC to ensure there are no lapses in security and logistics during the exercise.
Odinga further inquired whether the Commission has conducted an annual audit of election technology in a bid to ensure the internal controls of the technology are effective.
He further asked the Commission to clarify on the issue of stakeholder engagement whether it has taken any measures to address the “systemic inadequacies identified by the supreme Court in 2017.”
In preliminary response to concerns raised by Odinga, Chebukati revealed that the Commission will conduct a simulation exercise for the electronic transmission of polls results on June 9 as part of the plans in the pipeline.
“What you referred to as simulation the dry run of technology will be done next week on or before 9th here at Bomas and you have given us a chief agent to work with and your team, you will be invited to be part of that simulation exercise,” Chebukati said.
The simulation exercise is designed to pick challenges in transmission of electronic copies of election results used to collate provisional election results at the National Tallying Center.
Chebukati advised all the presidential candidates with any concerns to have a seat down with the commission to iron out any concerns.
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