How to solve impasse over election results declaration

The National Super Alliance (Nasa) has every right to oppose the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission appeal against the High Court declaration that the presidential election votes a recorded at a counting station cannot be altered.

It was just a month ago that I praised the ruling as an important milestone in the war against serial electoral fraud.

After all, it makes absolutely no sense for the IEBC bosses to change or vary the numbers on votes that have already been counted and confirmed at the polling station.

Their only function is to receive the numbers from each polling station, add them up to get the totals, and faithfully announce them without any other addition or subtraction.

Any powers to add, subtract, multiply, divide or otherwise vary the numbers counted at the polling stations would open up the entire electoral process to abuse; so it is difficult to understand why the electoral management body would want that burden on itself.

OFFERING COGENT REASONS

That, however, is not to say that the IEBC should be barred from offering cogent reasons if it has any.

It should be allowed to argue it’s case in court, and neither it nor the bench should be pressured or intimidated by any other party.

Looked at that way, the threats and ultimatums from the Nasa leadership are totally misplaced.

If Nasa presidential nominee Raila Odinga and his running mate, Mr Kalonzo Musyoka, have a reasonable counter to the IEBC case, they should have the confidence to argue their position in court.

Resorting to threats to boycott the General Election or to call street demonstrations is counter-productive.

DESTRUCTIVE

That plays into the hands of a Jubilee propaganda mill that is already driving a campaign depicting the opposition leadership as destructive, violent, and contemptuous of the normal legal channels.

It’s music to the ears of those who accuse Mr Odinga of sensing defeat, and therefore trying to lay the groundwork for a disputed election that wins him a share of power through a negotiated settlement.
Now, I must clarify that I am not arguing against the Nasa standpoint, nor in favour of the electoral commission’s incomprehensible position that only raises suspicion of intended malfeasance.

But also, it does not help the IEBC and its position as a neutral arbiter when President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy, Mr William Ruto, gleefully rush to its defence as if the electoral body is doing Jubilee’s bidding.

My point is that obdurate positions only raise the stakes on a matter that could be resolved amicably if only each side stepped back from brinkmanship.

Would it help if the IEBC clarified that it wasn’t seeking power to alter the confirmed vote count; but only wanted some leeway ensure that the count received at the national tallying centre is the same as that recorded at the counting station?

STOPPED ISSUING THREATS

Would it clear the waters if Nasa stopped issuing threats and confirmed that it similarly wants to ensure the actual vote count is not tampered with during transmission or tallying?

Just that simple way of listening to one another would resolve a deadlock that is already causing needless public anxiety.

Meanwhile, the IEBC also needs to come clean on another matter.

The case in question is being widely reported as based on who announces election results.

As far as I know, the votes are counted and announced by returning officers right at the polling stations.

This applies for the entire election be it for a Member of the County Assembly or for the President.

INITIAL COUNTS

Once those initial counts are done and displayed, all of us — candidates, media, political parties, election observers, civil society and so on — have the freedom to pick them up and compute our own tallies.

We can also broadcast the partial or full returns, if we so wish.

That then makes redundant that performance where weary electoral commissioners endlessly go through the ritual of announcing results as they come in.

That tired ritual serves no purpose other than to satisfy the egos of a self-important lot out to make the point that election results are their exclusive preserve.

Actually it is a very African ritual seen nowhere else in the world.

The IEBC chairman could do himself a world of good by simply debunking the myth that election results belong to him.

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