The Court of Appeal has temporarily halted the High Court ruling on the use of manual registers during Tuesday’s general elections.
This comes after the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) filed a petition appealing a ruling handed down by the High Court on Friday, August 5 that authorized the IEBC to supplement the KIEMS kits with the manual register.
The UDA party said that the integrity of the elections would be jeopardized if the electoral commission relied on a manual register.
The commission has previously asserted that only electronic KIEMS kits would be used for the August 9 election. However, on Friday, August 5, the High Court ordered IEBC to include the manual registers, a directive they have now followed.
The Azimio faction, led by Raila Odinga, had threatened to boycott the August 9 election if the commission did not use a manual voter register. He argued that the electoral agency should utilize the manual register as a backup in the event that the KIEMS kits fail to function.
“That is why we are saying that there must be a manual register at every polling station, it is not negotiable. We are telling the IEBC they must have a manual register along with the biometric identification of voters on that day; failure to which, there will be no election,” Raila said.
DP Ruto, on the other hand, supported the commission, criticizing his rivals for focusing on the commission rather than on soliciting votes from Kenyans.
“Stop frustrating IEBC. Focus on seeking votes you are not competing with IEBC. Come and meet us face to face. We will defeat you very early in the morning. We want you to respect independent commissions,” Ruto stated.
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