Let the media project tally of poll results

MEDIA AND ELECTIONS TV Journalists covering the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights KNCHR's periodic update on the ongoing political campaigns at the KNCHR's offices in Nairobi. Photo/Elvis Ogina (Nairobi) July 14th,2017

The debate on whether media should or should not tally and ultimately make public their projected figures of election results has come to the fore again. The Communication Authority’s Director General has warned media against releasing poll results ahead of the IEBC. With this edict, the Director General touched on a subject far removed from the mandate of the Communication Authority.

Several months earlier, NASA made public its intention to establish a parallel vote tally system. The declaration raised much heat with the IEBC itself quickly declaring this illegal. The late Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery joined in, warning of its consequences.

Later, Jubilee Party, private media and civil society entities such as Electoral Governance Group (Elog) also expressed interest to conduct a Parallel Vote Tally (PVT). Given our recent electoral history, the interest is mostly with the presidential poll. In established democracies, this level of interest in the electoral process would hardly surprise, and certainly, there would be no ultimatums from state regulators. This is because both media and civil society are generally accepted to play a critical watchdog role on behalf of society.

Earn trust

Secondly, institutions mandated with the management of electoral processes in these countries have over time earned the trust and respect of the general public. In instances where malpractice is detected, there are inbuilt self-correcting mechanisms to ensure quick and measured redress. The current debate in America regarding whether Russia meddled in the 2016 election to hand Donald Trump an unfair win over Hillary Clinton is a case in point.

Our electoral context on the other hand, does not inspire such level of confidence. The IEBC is yet to earn that level of trust from the general public. For this reason, watchdog institutions such as the media in all its forms, have to play an active role to ensure transparency and ultimate credibility of the electoral process. It makes sense therefore that media institutions will invest in systems that enable them tally and make projections of the election results.

The idea is not for the media to declare winners and losers of an election. They should however, in fulfillment of their watchdog role, tally as accurately as possible and present projections to keep the public informed. Projections basically point to trends regarding how the different races are shaping once vote counting has commenced. To ensure credibility of the process, media institutions engaged in this process would also of necessity, make public their plan and how it is executed, particularly to guarantee accurate and reliable figures.

In more recent African elections the case of Ghana’s media in the 2016 election is seen by many as a success story. Joy FM, a popular Accra radio station, accurately projected the winner of the country’s closely contested presidential poll. The election pitied then incumbent President Dramani Mahama against six others, including the eventual winner Nana Akufo-Addo. Joy FM made its projections almost 18 hours before the final official declaration. Its projection showed Nana Akufo-Addo as winner with 53.35 per cent of the valid votes cast against Dramani Mahama’s 44.85 per cent. The final declaration by the national electoral commission put the winner - Nana Akufo-Addo at 53.85 per cent, while close challenger and incumbent president Dramani Mahama at 44.40 per cent.

There is always the difficult question of when or at what point to make the projection during the vote counting process. In the case of Ghana, Joy FM made the projection after receiving tallies from 206 of the 275 constituencies. This was roughly, 75 per cent returns. The projection was made a day after voting had completed and counting commenced. Ghana’s electoral Commission gave the final tally on the third day after voting. In this case, PVT by the media played a vital role in putting pressure on the electoral body as well as ensuring citizens were well informed.

Compare this with our own experience from the 2007 General Election. Soon after vote tallying commenced, the supply of information gradually started to fade as the tallying stretched into days. Anxiety rose, and by the time the chair of the electoral commission was publicly declaring that he had lost contact with some of his officers in the field, it was clear to observers that the process had been irreparably compromised.

Generally, the period leading to and immediately after voting is a tense one for contestants and their supporters. To ease such tension, a constant stream of reliable information is critical. The public expects the media and the institution mandated with managing the election process to provide such information and on a timely basis. In the case of Ghana, the projections of the race by the media were critical in diffusing tension and preparing both the winning and losing camps for the ultimate announcement.

The media can effectively play this role if they have invested in systems that enable them follow and establish trends in all races. This particular role of the media is envisaged and protected under the constitutional provision on freedom of the media. The Communication Authority should of necessity work with media institutions to ensure information relayed is accurate and that ultimately, it does not serve to destabilise peace. In our context, as past cases have shown, it is always easy to give edicts and clump down on institutions and individuals. It is less costly however to nurture and support institutions that can contribute to making our electoral process fair and credible.

The Kenyan media, through various representative organs such as the Media Owners Association, Kenya Media Sector Working Group, Editors’ Guild and several journalist networks, should defend its case to provide a parallel vote tally. This is an important ingredient for a free and fair electoral process. Ultimately, we will gradually nurture our young democracy.

- The writer is a senior lecturer of media studies at Multimedia University of Kenya