IEBC targets electronic voting for Kenyans in diaspora by 2032

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) says it is moving towards having Kenyans living in the diaspora exercise their right to vote electronically.

Speaking in New York during an engagement with Kenyans living in the diaspora, IEBC Vice Chair Fahima Abdallah said the goal is to have Kenyans in the diaspora vote electronically by 2032.

"The law as it is today says elections can only happen on Kenyan soil, and that means our Kenyan missions here. But as an able team, we are going to work together with all those other institutions to ensure whatever needs to be done is done to enable each and every Kenyan, wherever they are, to exercise their democratic right," Fahima said.

"We want to enhance technology to a point where in the future — maybe not this coming election, but maybe we leave the commission in 2031 — we shall be able to even have the diaspora doing e-voting."

Currently, the regulations base the registration of Kenyan voters who reside outside the country and the conduct of elections abroad on the presence of an embassy, high commission or consulate.

Commissioner Alutalala Mukhwana, who accompanied the IEBC Vice Chair to New York, said the decision on which 14 countries will be added to the list of countries where Kenyans can be registered as voters will be based on population.