Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission chairperson Wafula Chebukati has said that the electoral body will obey the court order that stopped it from winding its 30-day registrations exercise which was targeting the new voters.
On Monday, the High Court in Eldoret issued orders stopping the IEBC from concluding the enhanced voter registration exercise which had initially been scheduled to end Tuesday, November 2, 2021.
The commission moved to court to challenge the order and the case will be determined on Wednesday in the morning, but the chairperson said that the commission will continue with the registration process until further advised.
“Meanwhile, the commission has directed that pending hearing of the case tomorrow, the registration process will continue taking place until further advised,” Chebukati said.
The latest communication was posted on the commission’s official Twitter account on Tuesday night.
Justice Eric Ogolla said the orders will remain in place until November 9 when the case will be heard.
“The commission properly advised on the legal and operational ramifications of the court order, moved to court today to challenge the order.
Patrick Cherono, a voter, had filed an application at the High Court arguing that the IEBC had not met it’s target of registering 4.5 million new voters.
The voter sued the poll agency and the National Assembly.
The latter is supposed to allocate funding to the IEBC.
“Pending the hearing and determination of the application, a prohibitory order is hereby issued prohibiting the IEBC or its agents from closing national voter registration on November 2,” the court order said.
Ogolla directed that the petition be served on all parties as per the law.
Cherono said the Covid-19 situation had affected many people who were in the process of recovering and need time to go and register as a voter.
