IEBC to give media and public access to poll results

IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati (centre) his deputy Consolata Nkatha Bucha Maina (left) and the commission's CEO Ezra Chiloba address the media on July 26, 2017 in Nairobi. They said they will only allow political parties to have one agent per polling station. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission said that it had developed a web portal where Kenyans can access constituency election results.
  • In announcing the final tally and winner, IEBC will consider who has 50 per cent plus one vote of all valid votes cast, and at least 25 per cent of the vote in at least 24 of the 47 counties.
  • The Bomas of Kenya has been gazetted as the national tallying centre.

The electoral agency has said there should be no cause for alarm about its mode of announcing election results, saying it will make them accessible to the public and the media throughout the tallying period.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) said that it had developed a web portal where Kenyans can access constituency election results, together with scanned forms signed by the returning officer and agents, but with no such result read at Bomas of Kenya, except the declaration of the final tally.

“Announcing the presidential elections results from each of the 290 constituencies at Bomas will just be a repetition. All we need to do is just verify and collate the results and announce the final one,” IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati told journalists on Wednesday on the scrapping of the periodic announcements.

Mr Chebukati said the decision was in line with a Court of Appeal ruling that results as announced at the polling station were final, and that returning officers at constituency, county and the national tallying centres will only collate, with no possibility of altering the results.

WINNER

In announcing the final tally and winner, IEBC, Mr Chebukati said, will consider who has 50 per cent plus one vote of all valid votes cast, and at least 25 per cent of the vote in at least 24 of the 47 counties.

Preparations under way at Bomas of Kenya from where the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission chairman will announce the presidential election results. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

After tallying at the polling stations, Mr Chebukati said the presiding officer will key in the results in the presence of all agents who must also sign a form, which will be scanned and uploaded together with the results.

At the constituency, the returning officer will collate results, announce elected area member of Parliament and final presidential election result in his or her jurisdiction. They will then relay the presidential election results to the national tallying centre.

The Bomas of Kenya has been gazetted as the national tallying centre. Here, IEBC will be divided into three teams.

AUTHENTICATE RESULTS

The first team of two will receive and authenticate the results and pass them on to a team of six that will collate and generate result forms for presidential elections and hand them to the validation team.

The validation team will verify to ensure it is complete and accurate as far as the collation of the results from the 290 constituencies is concerned.

After that, Form 34C will be generated that will be used by Mr Chebukati, who is the presidential elections returning officer, to announce the final results.

He has seven days after the close of the August 8 poll to make that declaration.

KINDIKI

On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Kithure Kindiki and ODM director of Elections Junet Mohamed both supported the IEBC move to scrap announcement of the 290 constituency presidential election results, but urged that the media and public feed should be maintained at all times.

“If IEBC is saying it is to make things swifter, faster and more credible, we have no problem. It is their job to run elections,” said Prof Kindiki.

Mr Mohamed said: “We have no problem as long as what they collate is what will have been announced at the constituency level.”