Electoral commission losing windows for mischief in poll

Two important developments towards a free, transparent, peaceful and credible August 8 General Election were recorded last week.

One was a ruling by High Court that strips the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) of powers to alter election results as recorded from vote counting at the polling stations.

The other was the IEBC backing down on its stance against an opposition National Super Alliance (Nasa) vote tallying centre.

Let’s start with the first one from a case filed by human rights campaigners Maina Kiai, Khelef Khalifa and Tirop Kitur.

The High Court struck out sections of the election laws that allowed IEBC officials at the national tallying centre to change the results submitted by returning officers from the counting stations.

CROOKED OFFICIALS

It, indeed, was a major anomaly that votes counted and verified at polling stations could be varied by officials in Nairobi.

This was a loophole that could be exploited by crooked officials to manipulate the electoral outcome.

Perhaps the long delays experienced at the last few general elections between submission of results from the counting centres and announcement of presidential election results was because the count was being rigged.

A major window to mischief has been removed, though one would hope that there is still room for the electoral commission to seek clarification from returning officers in instances where there are obvious mistakes or anomalies that make the numbers meaningless.

The High Court ruling by Judges Weldon Korir, Aggrey Muchelule and Enoch Chacha Mwita reinforces the principal that the role of the IEBC is not to determine the electoral outcome, but merely to faithfully report it.

SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENT

And that is the same principle at play on the other significant development. It defied all logic and reason that the IEBC had initially sided with Jubilee Party leaders and supporters in opposing the Nasa plan for an independent vote monitoring and tallying system.

The asinine argument that a parallel tallying centre was an opposition plan to incite chaos through the release of contrary results conveniently ignored the fact that Jubilee, too, is already well advanced in its own plans for such a mechanism.

It was as if some wanted to push the argument that an independent vote monitoring mechanism was an exclusive preserve of the governing coalition.

Yes, only the IEBC has the legal mandate to officially declare the electoral outcome, but there is absolutely nothing illegal or sinister in any other interested entity keeping its own count.

That is common practice in all other democracies and Kenya cannot be an exception.

MAJOR FAILINGS

After all, the votes are counted and immediately made public right at the polling stations. Everything else done by the media, by election monitors, by political parties, and by the IEBC national tallying centre, is a matter of simple addition.

If anything, it would be a gross failing for any serious political party to lack a mechanism for collecting the vote counts at every polling station.

One of the major failings of the last two General Elections, 2007 and 2013, was that no numbers were available to test the disputed official results, and therefore, any legal challenges were doomed to fail.

The aggrieved losing parties in the two polls had not collected and collated vote counts countrywide; and neither had efforts by various media houses succeeded.

It is good that after meeting opposition chiefs last week, the IEBC relented, and stopped echoing the Jubilee position. Political parties aside, the media should actually be at the forefront in monitoring the vote count right at the polling station, and broadcasting the running tallies.

OFFICIAL RESULTS

Let no one argue that this is a preserve of the IEBC, for any such numbers are not manufactured, but come out of official results from the polling stations that the High Court has now declared cannot be tampered with by higher forces.

As we count down to the poll, we also now need to see the IEBC more proactive in enforcing the rules. It cannot continue playing blind to obvious electoral offences such as parties and candidates engaging in voter bribery, violence and intimidation.

It also must crack down on any party illegally deploying Cabinet and principal secretaries, state corporation chiefs and other public officers to its election campaigns.

Email: [email protected] Twitter: @MachariaGaitho