Cord accuses IEBC of tampering with election materials

The Coalition of Reforms and Democracy (Cord) has accused the electoral commission of using Returning Officers to interfere with election materials in order to undermine their petition against the presidential election.

The Cord team working on the petition, led by senators-elect James Orengo and Mutula Kilonzo, accused Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) of summoning Returning Officers from the 290 constituencies to the National Tallying Centre at the Bomas of Kenya to tamper with election material.

The Nation could not immediately verify the allegations.

The two said the move amounted to post-election rigging since the IEBC wanted to interfere with election materials so that they could not be used as evidence in the petition.

“These are the material we have been asking for and IEBC has been unwilling to surrender them to us. Now they are calling Returning Officers to Bomas to secure them. This is what I call post election rigging,” said Mr Orengo.

They accused the electoral body of sustaining a media campaign that urge Kenyans to accept the election results despite knowing that they are the subject of the impending case at the Supreme Court.

“IEBC as the institution whose deficiencies are subject of such challenges cannot therefore purport to ask the public to accept the election results as that is tantamount to violation of the democratic rights. We demand that IEBC stop these advertisements forthwith,” Mr Kilonzo stated.

The Cord team also demanded that the Jubilee Coalition makes an undertaking that it will abide by the outcome of the Supreme Court’s ruling on the petition.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka are scheduled to meet the coalition's newly elected MPs, Senators and Governors and update them on the progress made in filing the petition and the chances of it succeeding.