The United Democratic Alliance (UDA) Party has filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal challenging the decision rendered by the High Court of Kenya in Nairobi that directed IEBC to use manual voter register during the August 9, general elections.
On August 4, 2022, the High court delivered a judgement whose net effect was directing the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to revert to the use of a manual register as a mode of identification of voters during the forthcoming general elections scheduled for the 9th August 2022.
According to UDA, the said decision now makes the use of the manual register as a primary mode of identification of voters hence prima facie, an impugned decision which is legally unsound.
Further, DP Ruto’s affiliate Party, said that there is an apparent and real likelihood of a serious conflict and confusion in terms of enforcement, and implementation of law pertaining to the mode of identification of voters.
The impugned decision directs IEBC to use a manual register concurrently with the electronic register while a Judgement of 4th August 2017 in National Super Alliance (Nasa) Kenya, verses the IEBC & 2 others [2017] eKLR the court of Appeal ordered that IEBC use the printed register of voters only in instances where the KIEMS kits completely fail with no possibility of repair or replacement.
The appeal proceeds to say that the integrity of the general elections is likely to be compromised by the possibility of misuse of the manual voter register during elections since a manual register lacks safeguards for enhancing the credibility of elections.
