IEBC starts voter listing in UAE, Canada after easing of COVID-19 restrictions

NAIROBI, Kenya, 1 February 2019 – Following the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has begun the Enhanced Continuous Voter Registration (ECVR) exercise in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Canada.
The Kenya High Commission in Ottawa, the Kenya Honorary Consulate in Toronto, and the Kenya Honorary Consulate in Vancouver will all host the drill on Tuesday.
The exercise is taking conducted at the Kenya Embassy in Abu Dhabi and the Kenya Consulate in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
The Commission’s chairman Wafula Chebukati says that the registration exercise will be extended in Canada and UAE by the number of days lost to ensure Kenyans in the two countries are accorded 15 days to register as voters.
The EVCR is in the last week in all the 1,450 County Assembly Wards, institutions of higher learning, Huduma centres countrywide and Diaspora countries namely the US, United Kingdom, Qatar, Germany, South Africa and East Africa Community.
In Kenya, the exercise will end on Sunday, while in the Diaspora it will close on the 15th day of the commencement date of the respective country.
On Monday, the electoral body stated at it had registered 548,188 new voters in the last two weeks in the ongoing registration exercise.
In a statement, Chebukati indicated that IEBC had targeted to register 2,987,138 during this period.
The electoral agency stated that they received 130,320 requests for transfer and 989 applications for change of particulars.