Embrace Electronic Process in Elections

26 May 2011

editorial

Nairobi — Parliament has passed a motion asking the electoral commission to introduce electronic voting to streamline the polling system and eliminate irregularities.

The motion arises out of the experience of bungled elections in 2007, which led to a spiral of violence that pushed the country to the precipice.

The lesson was that the electoral process must be watertight and the results believable, otherwise the consequences are chaos and mayhem.

So far, the Interim Independent Electoral Commission has made attempts to reform the process and piloted electronic voter registration in selected constituencies.

In the recent by-election in Ikolomani, electronic registration eased the process and so did the use of technology in vote tallying that saw the results announced within three hours after the end of voting.

Electronic voting, which has been perfected in some jurisdictions, has many advantages, such as speed, reliability, and efficiency.

India, one of the world’s most populous democracies, provides the best example of electronic voting where results are known within a relatively short time.

For Kenya, the desire for electronic voting is even greater, given the complexities of the next elections as stipulated in the new Constitution.

There will be elections for the National Assembly and the Senate, as well as 47 county assemblies. Pulling through such a tiered process requires the best technology.

However, the challenge is whether the government will mobilise adequate funds to buy the equipment and set up the necessary infrastructure.

And if it does, the funds have to be made available in the next Budget due to be presented in Parliament in the next few days.

Having passed the motion for electronic voting, Parliament must push for the necessary funding and resources to actualise it.

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