By Stanley Mumo
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has addressed widespread confusion regarding whether Kenyans who registered to vote before 2012 need to re-register ahead of the forthcoming elections.
The commission confirmed that citizens who registered prior to 2012 do not need to re-register, provided they were captured in the biometric Register of Voters (ROV) introduced under the 2010 Constitution and following the boundary delimitation exercise in 2012.
Before 2012, Kenya relied on a manual voter register. The introduction of the biometric system in 2012 required all eligible citizens to enroll and have their fingerprints and personal details captured. This biometric ROV has been the official register since 2013 and was used in the 2022 General Election.
The IEBC emphasized that only a small number of citizens who may have missed registering in 2012 and never enrolled under the biometric system are required to do so now. All others who registered in 2012 or later are already in the system and eligible to vote.
The clarification comes amid concerns and rumors circulating online, reassuring Kenyans that their voter status remains valid if they were properly registered under the biometric system.
