A voter Mr. Samson Nunga being prepared by clerk Annet Sosian to vote during the IEBC Mock elections in Kajiado North at Watakatifu Catholic Centre in Ngong. March 21 2012. Photo/ANTHONY OMUYA
By OLIVER MATHENGE omathenge@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Wednesday, March 21 2012 at 22:30
Posted Wednesday, March 21 2012 at 22:30
IN SUMMARY
- ‘Voting’ expected to test how system will cope with handling six ballot papers
Voters in two constituencies will choose “leaders” in a mock General Election expected to unravel the “nightmare” of dealing with six ballot papers.
Three ballot papers — presidential, parliamentary and civic seat — have always been used in previous elections under the old Constitution.
Saturday’s mock election, Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairman Isaack Hassan said, will test how the system will cope with six ballots and identify the cost and logistical problems.
The exercise targets 25,224 voters in 21 of the 84 polling stations in Malindi. Another 30,314 voters in 12 of the 117 polling stations in Kajiado North will take part in the exercise, which takes place from 8am to 3pm and will follow actual election procedures.
The two constituencies were selected because they both have highly literate and illiterate voters, active and different political parties and good and poor GSM network, which is useful for testing electronic transmission of results.
The IEBC wants to establish among others, the time it takes to cast the six ballots.
Kenyans will cast ballots for six positions — president, MP, governor, women’s representative, senator and county assembly member in the next General Election.
The mock election will use imaginary candidates with caricatures to avoid misinterpretations.
For each position, a minimum of four candidates will be chosen to provide voters with genuine options — and therefore competition — as expected in a real election.
“Candidates will be assigned local names to domesticate the contest. The rationale for using the caricatures is to pre-empt potential controversies,” a concept paper on the mock election says.
The mock election has procedures for counting, tallying and transmission of results. Counting will start with the presidential vote followed by the votes for MP, governor, senator, woman county representative and county assembly representative.
The mock election exercise, from preparation to conclusion, will have taken 33 days.
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