Voting in Kenya's referendum closes

Written By:Rose Kamau/Judith Akolo , Posted: Wed, Aug 04, 2010


Voting has officially ended in Kenya's referendum on the proposed new constitution. Tallying of votes commences at 6pm at the Bomas of Kenya in Nairobi.

Long queues characterised the largely peaceful exercise in the morning but these had dwindled to a trickle by late afternoon.

Security was beefed in many areas to avert a recurrence of the 2007 poll where the disputed results caused chaos in several parts of the country.

Leaders who cast their votes early Wednesday appealed to Kenyans to maintain peace regardless of the outcome of the referendum.

Despite several hitches, the exercise was by and large successful in various parts of the country with the IIEC saying that by 11am local time 90 percent of the polling stations were operational.

Kenyans started queuing as early as 5am to participate in the poll which if endorsed would give the country a new constitutional dispensation.

The campaigns for and against the proposed new law had been characterized by heated debates amid concerns that the din from the politicians was drowning out the civic education efforts and denying Kenyans a chance to make independent choices.

However many Kenyans are confident that they made their choices based on the contents of the proposed law and not on proclamations by politicians as happened during the 2005 referendum which was soundly rejected by Kenyans.

A section of Kenyans for the first time voted electronically. The Interim Independent Electoral Commission began testing the new technology of voting in selected constituencies across the country. Only those who were registered electronically in selected polling stations were eligible for the new voting system.

The system only requires that one places the thumb onto the electronic gadget and immediately all the details of the voter, the picture, identity card number and registration center simply pop up on the screen of the laptop used by polling clerks.