Jubilee Party secretary general Raphael Tuju has said eight choppers are on standby to transport ballot materials where shortages are experienced in the ongoing primaries.
"We have 8 choppers on standby.
Admittedly, we have a few glitches but in several counties, voting has kicked off well," Tuju said.
Addressing media on Friday in Nairobi, he said if materials run out, then they will kick off the backup mechanism, including delivery of material by air.
"Some stations received more materials than others but this is because they have more voters," he said.
Tuju said that no aspirant has the power to call off the primaries.
This was after a
section of Uasin Gishu aspirants led by Governor
Jackson
Mandago said voting will not take place in the region following the delays.
"We registered more than 100,000 new voters so we must have enough ballot papers," Mandago said.
But Tuju dismissed the governor saying the directive was not from the party.
"Voting has to continue. Any postponement will only be announced by the Jubilee Party headquarters."
"Those aspirants cancelling the nominations have no authority to do so. Voting has to go on," Tuju said.
Using
2013 registers
There had been claims from aspirants that the Jubilee Party was using the 2013 IEBC registers.
Details also emerged that new voters’ names were missing from the registers.
It is these rolls that the party used to print and dispatch ballot papers.
According to some aspirants, the party ignored the list generated from the recent mass voter registration drive.
Those who transferred their polling stations during the mass voter listing were referred back to their old stations.
Some aspirants also complained that the Jubilee Party is using the 2013 IEBC register instead of the updated one.
"This is locking out many people who registered after that period. They are not serious," an aspirant said.
In February, IEBC registered over 3.7 million new voters against its target of 6.1 million across the country.
But Tuju said the party was only using the 2013 register to confirm names of individuals.
"The party is using
our membership register but to confirm some names, we are using the updated IEBC register to double check," Tuju said.
He apologised to supporters at polling stations where voting was delayed.
Supporters, who started streaming in the polling centres from as early as 3am complained of delays. Others opted to go back home.
A spot check by the Star revealed that voters had queued from 3 am but ballot papers were yet to reach the polling stations by 8am.