IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati has revealed that the electoral body has processed 14,552 candidates who are vying for various posts ahead of the general elections, 9% of these are women, while about 13% are youth. While addressing the press during the release of audit details in Nairobi, Chebukati said that over 372 disputes related to nominations were filed and hearing of the disputes was concluded yesterday. He added that eligible candidates will be gazetted by the commission this month, “The Commission shall gazette eligible candidates not later than 20th of June,” he said, adding that party lists should be submitted to IEBC not later than 24th June.
On preparation of the voters’ register, the IEBC Chair said that all who took the opportunity to verify their details experienced the new technology that will be used during the general elections. He said that the firm which was tasked with the auditing process of the register, KPMG, will officially hand over the report today, “The Commission is duty bound to implement recommendations of the Audit Report at the same time submitting the report to parliament,” he said. He outlined that the audit should help them to build an accurate and credible register of voters for the general elections.
Chebukati said that the Commission has so far received 35,000 KIEMS (Kenya Integrated Elections Management System) gadgets and they expect the last batch to arrive not later than the 13th of June this year, “We’ve already deployed 11,000 kits for purposes of verification,” said Chebukati. The IEBC Chairman has urged Kenyans to rally together to ensure we have free, fair, and credible elections, “That’s why we, together with partners, have invited over 1000 participants to the National Elections Conference which shall be held between the 12th and 14th of June at KICC,” he said.
