SARUNI: IEBC should address issues that might hinder fair polls

African elections can be very divisive and fragile, often due to lack of proper preparation by the agencies mandated to manage electoral affairs.

Often the management and outcome of the elections have been critical pointers in providing an important bellwether for where the continent is heading.

The outcome of this election will significantly impact prospects for reversing democratic erosion, the extent to which civil society and countervailing institutions can keep leaders accountable, and the future range of tactics that incumbents employ to retain power.

IEBC is concerned that political violence, last-minute electoral law reviews and technology deficiencies could be the biggest threat to the success of the election.

A free, fair and credible election is one of the prerequisites of democratic governance.

These concerns have ramifications to affect both the pre-voting stage, the voting stage and the post-voting stage.

Unfortunately, recent events in the country have cast into doubt the chances of free and fair elections under IEBC.

Quite often in Africa the use of military, assassination and other ventures to stay in power has brought poverty, suffering and distress to women and children.

This is something that we must conquer and guarantee people respect for human rights, rule of law and security which are tenets of successful democracies and elections. 

The IEBC must overcome these hurdles to deliver free and fair elections.

From past experiences, Kenyans have doubted the ability of IEBC to conduct free and credible elections.

However, this time around the commission seems to give Kenyans some confidence.

Though, the commission still faces an uphill task in convincing Kenyans of its neutrality and integrity in providing free and credible elections.

In ensuring we offer ourselves credible elections we must address challenges like lack of adequate funding and lack of civic education among the voters.

These will derail crucial activities which will scuttle election preparations.

However, most politicians are taking advantage of the fact that some voters are illiterate and don’t have access to this information and hence giving them wrong and misleading information.

Different security challenges are presented by electronic voter verification and tallying technologies compared to manual verification systems.

Some of the presidential hopefuls who were not cleared to vie for the have (IEBC) of flouting the constitution and being biased.

There has also been security and infrastructure that need to be fully prepared before the August election.

In the past, conducting elections in areas such as Eastern and Northeastern and other areas around the coastal region has proven to be a challenge to the IEBC due to the poor roads and insecurity in the region.

This instils fear among the officials and intimidates voters who may not turn out as required so that they could vote for the leaders of their choice.

Governance, security and political analyst

Edited by Kiilu Damaris