IEBC dismisses claims of plan to scrap live transmission of election results

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has dismissed claims that proposed amendments to the Elections Act seek to abolish the live transmission of election results or return Kenya to the manual voting system used during the 2007 General Election.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the commission clarified that the proposed legislation before Parliament does not seek to amend Section 44 of the Elections Act, which provides for the deployment of the Kenya Integrated Elections Management System (KIEMS) for voter registration, voter identification and electronic transmission of results.

Instead, the electoral agency said the proposed changes are intended to introduce a complementary mechanism for transmitting election results in areas where electronic transmission is impossible due to the lack of a 3G network, the minimum requirement for transmitting results from polling stations.

The commission maintained that the law will continue to require the electronic transmission and physical delivery of presidential election results from polling stations to constituency and national tallying centres.

IEBC also noted that it will remain obligated to tally and verify results received at both constituency and national tallying centres, as well as publish polling station result declaration forms on its online public portal.

According to IEBC Chairperson Erastus Ethekon, the proposed amendments seek to align the Elections Act with the Supreme Court's decision in the 2017 presidential election petition, which affirmed that the statutory Form 34A is the primary and final record of results declared at a polling station.

Under the proposed changes, the commission will continue verifying results by comparing the original physical Form 34A with its electronically transmitted image from the polling station before the results are confirmed.

The electoral body further explained that the Bill also seeks to remove provisions of the Elections Act that were declared unconstitutional by the High Court in the Katiba Institute v Attorney General case, where Sections 39(1C)(a), 39(1D), 39(1E), 39(1F) and 39(1G) were invalidated.

The Elections (Amendment) Bill is currently before the National Assembly's Justice and Legal Affairs Committee for consideration.