Supporters of the Punguza Mizigo initiative are registered voters, Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairman Wafula Chebukati has said.
In a statement to newsrooms on Tuesday, Chebukati dismissed claims that the signatures presented by the Thirdway Alliance party were not verified by the commission.
He noted that the commission verified that the signatures presented belonged to registered voters, and met the required threshold of 1.2 million.
The IEBC boss further noted that the commission has not stored signatures of registered voters, and could not therefore authenticate them, adding that no law requires them to do so.
“Contrary to the assertion of Election Observation Group (ELOG), the commission publicized the list of Punguza Mizigo Initiative supporters on its website on April 18 for a period of 21 days as part of public participation.
"As indicated above, there exists no law or regulation requiring the commission to authenticate signatures of supporters of a referendum BilL," IEBC's statement read in part.
ELOG had asked Chebukati to publish all the 1.2 million signatures verified by the commission for accountability and transparency purposes.