HOW THE KENYANS VOTE

So how does a country of 41 million organise an election?

It is not compulsory for the Kenyans to vote and the last election there were over 4 million people that didn’t vote and the party that won the election won by a landslide of over 200,000 votes and the subsequent violence that followed effected all people, whether they voted or not.  This is what the new Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) is pushing this election and to get people out to have their say.

Voter registration ran from 19 November 2012 for 30 days. Problems were reported during the first few days of the registration exercise which included availability of electricity and military operations in some of the areas and the logistical challenges caused by rains.  Another subsequent challenge was the inability to register prospective voters who were still awaiting issuance of their formal identity documents by the government.  After the 18 December deadline, the IEBC released the provisional voter numbers showing a registered base of 14.3 million voters. The IEBC indicated that they had missed their target of 18 million voters citing voter apathy as one of reasons for this.  The IEBC began an exercise to cleaning up the voters’ roll with a target of opening it for verification early January 2013.

By the last day of registration there had been 12.7 million people register which was lower than what the IEBC projected target of 18 million.  Voter registration was carried out using Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) Kits which would reduce certain incidents of fraud.  The purchase of the BVR Kits was financed through a loan from Standard Chartered Kenya in a government-to-government deal involving Kenya and Canada made cheaper by a guarantee from the Canadian government. 

On 13 January 2013 IEBC opened its voter register for inspection. Voters were to verify their details before 26 January to enable the commission to clean the register ahead of the poll. The options include visiting respective registration centres, the IEBC website or the use of mobile phone numbers via an SMS service (using National Identity Card or Passport numbers used during registration).  The IEBC announced on 23 February 2013 that it had has removed 20,000 voters who had registered more than once from the voter roll. The names were identified during continuing activities to clean up the register. 

So now they have the electoral roll all set to go, below is a step by step process on how the Kenyans will vote on the 4^th March 2013.  The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has stepped up its voter education efforts before the March 4 general election and they are particularly keen to educate the public on the voting process as it will be the first time in Kenya’s history that voters will cast ballots for six and not three elective posts.

At the polling Stations

On the voting day the 24,616 polling stations gazetted by the IEBC will be opened from 6am to 5pm but voters on the queue by the time the polling stations close will be accorded the opportunity to cast their ballot.  You will only be allowed to cast your vote at the polling centre you specified when registering as a voter.  The polling stations will be manned by presiding officers who will have deputies to assist them. You can also expect to see voting clerks, party agents, election observers and journalists at the polling stations and they should bear the necessary accreditation

How to Vote

When it is your turn to vote, the first thing the voting clerks will do is to check you left pinkie for an ink mark which would indicate you have already cast your vote.  Should your left pinkie not have an ink mark you will be required to present your identification card (ID) or passport depending on which of the two you used to register as a voter.  In a bid to ensure you are not a ‘dead voter’, you will also be required to place a finger on an Electronic Voter Identification Device (EVID) to conclude the identification part of the voting process.  Once your identity is confirmed, a clerk will call out your name just to ensure you are indeed who you say you are and cross your name off the voter register.

If this process should go off without a hitch you will be issued with six ballot papers and you should confirm that they are stamped on the back because ballot papers without this impression will not be counted.

One clerk will hand you a beige coloured ballot paper for the County Ward Assembly representative and a blue one for the gubernatorial seat.

A second clerk will hand you a green ballot paper with the National Assembly representative choices and a purple one for the County Women’s Representative.

A third and final clerk will hand you a white ballot paper with the presidential candidate options on it and a yellow one for the senatorial post.

Apart from bearing party or independent candidate symbols, the ballot papers will also have the names and images of the candidates on them, and a box for you to make your mark.  The presidential and gubernatorial ballot papers will also bear the names of the candidates’ running mates.  You can use a tick, an ‘x’ or a dot to make your mark in the box allocated to your candidate of choice. You need to be careful not to mark two or more boxes and make sure your mark does not cross over to another candidate’s box.  Once you have finished marking the ballot papers behind a voting screen you will cast each ballot paper in a different ballot box corresponding to the colour of the ballot paper – there will therefore be six ballot boxes.

The ballot boxes will be transparent but their lids will be coloured; you will insert the white ballot paper with your vote for president in the slot of the ballot box with a white lid, the green ballot paper will go in the ballot box with the green lid and you will do the same with the remaining four ballot papers.  Having successfully cast your ballots, the left pinkie will be marked in indelible ink and you can be on your way to wait for the results of the voting exercise.

Average Voting Time

It is estimated that it will take an average voter 5-6 minutes to cast their vote however this is highly dependent on the constituency and county one will vote in.  In some areas ballot papers will be long consisting of more than 10 names, and this could mean that a voter will spend more time in the voting booth, however what does help in this situation is that the ballot papers will have the names and pictures of the candidates.

On the 4 March 2013, the voters will be electing the President, Senators, County Governors, Members of Parliament, Civic Wards and Women County Representatives. They will be the first elections held under the new constitution, which was passed during the 2010 referendum. Due to the terms of the new constitution, it could also be the first presidential election in Kenya where the candidates face a second round run-off between the first and the second candidates if no-one achieves a simple majority in the first round or if the winner does not get 25% of the votes in at least 24 counties.  The election margins are close and experts predict there will be a run-off. To win the presidency outright, a candidate must claim a majority of ballots cast at the national level and 25% of the vote in half of the country’s 47 counties. The election commission has until 11 March, one week after polling stations close, to tally and announce the results. If no candidate receives a majority vote, the top two candidates will face a runoff vote in April, no later than 11 April.  So if the majority isn’t won, then the Kenyans will have to go back to the polls again and vote. 

Let’s hope and pray that the same events don’t happen again as they did 5 years ago where 1500 people were killed and over 600,000 people were displaced after the news of the winner was released in what I have heard was in ‘dodgy’ circumstances.  As I have pointed out before I am not a political person, but I do know that I hate violence, I hate that people die when they are just trying to exercise their rights and for people to lose their homes due to their political beliefs really is not acceptable in this day and age, no matter what country you live in.  All we can do is stay/be optimistic and hope for a violence-free election, have hope for a peaceful and fair election, as the Kenyans forge ahead to secure a future, as equals to every single one of the country’s 41 million inhabitants.  The people deserve better. To put the horror of five years ago behind them, they deserve the chance to vote without fear and elect leaders committed to reform and ready to serve society as a whole without their own agenda’s taking precedence.

I wish all the Kenyans a fair and just election for 2013.