PH
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has rubbished claims by the opposition that it plans to rig the next elections using Koreans.
Kalonzo Musyoka, a Cord Co-Principal on Monday claimed that the commission officials were working with a Korean institution to rig the 2017 elections.
The Cord leader alleged that an IEBC boss had visited Korea to seek help on programming of the Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kits in readiness for election tampering.
But the IEBC in a press statement Tuesday referred to the claims by Kalonzo as reckless and part of CORD’s systematic and unfounded misinformation and propaganda to discredit the Commission.
IEBC explained that a major newspaper that ran the story on its frontpage did not seek its response on the allegations.
“Commissioner Thomas Letangule, who is alleged to have taken the BVR kits to Korea for ‘tampering in readiness for elections,’ traveled to Seoul to observe Korean parliamentary elections under the auspices of the Association of World Election Bodies (A-WEB),” reads the statement in part.
“IEBC is a member of A-WEB, with which it has signed a memorandum of understanding on training and capacity building in election management. IEBC staff have benefited from training and collaboration with 160 other electoral management bodies worldwide that A-WEB brings together,” explains the statement.
The commission appealed to the media to exercise restraint and uphold ethics in reporting on outlandish and alarmist claims that could jeopardize cohesion and the national interest.
