32 seek to halt clearance of presidential aspirants
By Bernice.Mbugua, June 3, 2022
Some 32 petitioners have moved to court to challenge the verification of signatures of supporters for presidential aspirants.
Through lawyer Karugu Mbugua, the petitioners claim the verification of signatures is not credible.
They argue that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), through its own communication, indicated there were inaccuracies in the voters register where thousands of voters have their ID details missing in the national registration bureau.
“IEBC has openly stated that they do not have in place an accurate, credible and verifiable register of voters capable of being used to verify whether the supporters of the presidential candidates are registered voters,” they say in court documents.
The petitioners contend that IEBC does not maintain a record of all registered voters which could be used in such verification. “The ongoing exercise is a nullity since the commission does not maintain a database of signatures to carry out the verification of signatures,” they argue.
They state that the ongoing exercise is based on an illegal and unverifiable register and there is an imminent danger that is likely to throw the country into electoral chaos.
The petitioners want the application certified as urgent. They also seek an order restraining IEBC from continuing with the verification of signatures of supporters of presidential aspirants based on the current register of voters.
At the same time, the petitioners are seeking an order restraining IEBC from clearing or approving any presidential aspirants on the basis of the alleged verification of signatures of the supporters for the presidential aspirants for lack of a repository of registered voters’ signatures.