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Kenyan electoral website crash poses serious questions

By , ITWeb
Kenya , 19 Sep 2012

Kenyan electoral website crash poses serious questions

Kenyans have questioned the ability of their country’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to handle next year’s general elections after its website crashed and failed to deliver provisional results for by-elections held in three constituencies.

The website breakdown has raised concerns on how whether the commission is ready to manage the expected high number of voters seeking information on the voting process and outcome of the elections in March 2013 via its website.

Kenyans on social media lambasted the electoral body, questioning how it would be able to handle elections in more than 200 constituencies after failing to deliver provisional results in 3 constituencies.

“The #IEBC website messed up my day... If they can’t handle 3 by-elections on their website, what about the general elections?” posted Kollo Nabiswa on Twitter.

The IEBC, through its Twitter handle @IEBCpage, had earlier on posted a link on the popular social network advising the public to use it to access provisional results, but later crashed after a surge of inquiries.

“As IEBC website crashes, there goes another lesson to the commission... Imagine how the traffic will be on March 4th!!!!” tweeted Peter Opondo.

While others vented their anger at the commission, some Twitter users took the opportunity to mock the IEBC’s technical capabilities.

Marvin Tumbo wrote: “The IEBC website is hosted on a server in some dude's bedroom #byelections.”

This is the second time the IEBC's website has crashed in three months. Last July, the website went down following a surge of online applications for advertised clerk jobs.

The commission said it would invite hackers to test the reliability of some of its systems as it prepares for the elections, which are poised to be the most technology dependent in history.

The IEBC also plans to release presidential results within 48 hours to avoid the delays in the 2007 polls, which led to the post election violence.

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