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Kenya: Electoral body to register prisoners as voters.

  1. Posted on Friday 25 June 2010 - 17:40
    Abdilatif
    Image of Abdilatif
    Kenya Interim Independent Electoral Commission has announced that it will undertake a process to register all prisoners as voters for the forthcoming August 4th referendum


    Making the announcement in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, IIEC Chairman, Ahmed Issack said the electoral body will register prisoners as voters for the referendum on the proposed constitution as from July 2nd.

    He allayed fears that the referendum process will be postponed as result of the court ruling which gave Kenya’s prisoners a right to vote for the first time in the country history.

    Chairman Ahmed Isaack Hassan allayed fears that the August 4 vote could be delayed over logistical concerns regarding the listing of the 53,000 prisoners countrywide.

    To implement the court ruling the electoral body will work with officers in charge of prison who will works as deputy registration officers.
    “The IIEC, , will gazette 70 prisons across the country as voter registration centres and polling stations starting early next week. Those with huge numbers of prisoners will have two streams, one for women and the other for men,” said Mr Hassan.

    The Interim Independent Constitutional Dispute Resolution Court (IICDRC) on Wednesday ruled that prisoners, of sound mind, should be registered to vote in the plebiscite within 21 days. It also ruled that all prisons in Kenya should be gazetted as polling centers.

    The ruling arose from a case filed by Shimo La Tewa prisoners in Mombassa, through Kituo Cha Sheria, a human rights lobby, who argued that the constitution bars them from voting in a General Election but not in a referendum.
    They further argued that their exclusion from the vote is unconstitutional and a violation of their rights.

    The IIEC chief said they will withdraw the prisoners’ voter's card since the ruling by the IICDRC restricted their voting rights to the referendum.

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