Kenyan voters will be able to vote in and find out up-to-date results of the Jubilee Coalition’s nominations process through a free SMS service, in the latest use of technology in the Kenyan electoral process.
Nominations for the coalition, which brings together Uhuru Kenyatta’s TNA, William Ruto’s URP, Charity Ngilu’s Narc and Najib Balala’s Republican Congress, will take place on January 17.
According to plans seen by the Star, the coalition is asking voters to SMS their national ID numbers and their voter’s card numbers, before answering a series of five questions to select their preferred candidates.
The coalition believes the system is cost effective and will allow the results to be counted live.
“Voters and aspirants can at any time get interim results by sending the word ‘TALLY’ via SMS. This makes the process open and transparent and mitigates post-election legalities by automating the counting and result reporting,” the Jubilee plan states.
The move by the Jubilee Coalition is the latest use of technology as part of the electoral process, as the country looks to avoid a repeat of the violence that occurred last time round in the approaching elections on March 4.
Biometric Voter Registration has been employed for the first time, while the Communications Commission of Kenya has required Kenyans to register their SIM cards and turned off illegal phone handsets in a bid to cut down on ethnic tension.
