Kenyan biometric voter enrolment nears 11 million voters, still behind target

The number of registered voters in Kenya is nearly 11 million, with only two days left before the deadline in the country, Daily Nation reports.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission’s (IEBC) communication manager told the Daily Nation that as of last Wednesday, the number of registered voters had reached 10.3 million.

Though there are nearly 11 million registered voters in the country today, that number is still short of the targeted figure of 18 million voters in the country by the deadline to register. In an attempt to strong-hand locals to register, fishing has been barred to non-registered citizens and fishmongers too, must produce voter cards before they can buy fish.

According to a news report in Sabahi, in an effort to recruit more voters, the President of the IEBC Ahmed Issack Hassan has said that biometric voter-registration data will be kept private, and will not be shared with law enforcement.

“A commission’s biggest asset is its register. It is what we use to ensure the integrity of elections and we would not abuse it in any way, shape or form,” Hassan said. “We are independent from the government. If the government wants to have similar data, it will have to implement the Integrated Population Registration System. It will not get data from the IEBC.”

This upcoming election marks the country’s first use of a biometric voter registration system, though it’s already had some issues. As reported previously in BiometricUpdate.com, the beginning of biometric voter enrolment was delayed last month.

The general election is set to take place in Kenya March 4, 2013.

Article Topics

biometric database  |  biometrics  |  elections  |  government  |  immigration control  |  national border management  |  voter registration