IEBC allows agents, observers to access servers

IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati at the Bomas of Kenya on Sunday. [Beverlyne Musili, Standard]

The electoral commission has opened its results transmission servers for scrutiny by presidential candidates in the October 26 repeat election.

The access was given on Tuesday, just hours after Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Chairman Wafula Chebukati declared President Uhuru Kenyatta president-elect after polling 7,483,895 votes in the controversial process.

“The commission has provided access rights to presidential candidates, agents and observers who made requests to the results transmission server from the day of elections (October 26) till results were declared,” said Mr Chebukati in a statement.

“The commission is in the process of making arrangements to avail the logs to others (stakeholders) upon request,” he added.

The move by IEBC is aimed at dispelling any credibility concerns in the repeat poll that was boycotted by the Opposition.

The candidates, their agents and observers will be allowed to examine and monitor logs in the electoral system from the time the first vote was cast and until the final tally was declared.

Meanwhile, OT Morpho on Monday provided IEBC with details of voters its technology identified during the October 26 election.

In the report, a total of 7,757,806 voters were identified electronically during the exercise. Out of these, 5,525,487 were identified through biometric fingerprints, 428,043 through a document search and 1,622,276 through an alphanumeric search.

"Further to your request to avail a matrix detailing the number of voters identified via the electronic voter identification device (EVID) in the fresh presidential election, I am pleased to provide you with a report attached to this letter detailing the numbers of voters per polling station, with details of the means used for these identifications," said the French firm in a letter to Chebukati.

“We invite you to note that obviously there will be some differences between the figures of identified voters and the number of votes. Please note the voters identified manually (without using KIEMS kits) or the voters non-validated by the operations during the identification process are not counted as identified voters,” said Olivier Charlanes, an official with the firm.

Andrew Limo, IEBC's communications manager, said all presidential contenders requested access to the commission's systems. Access to the result transmission server was part of the National Super Alliance's (NASA) 12-point “irreducible minimums” that the commission conceded to.

Opposition's demand

In the August 8 elections, IEBC resisted the Opposition's demand to access the transmission system against a backdrop of claims that raw data in the system showed Raila’s win against Uhuru.

The matter of access to the systems was contested in the Supreme Court and formed part of reasons why the court annulled the election.

At some point, National Super Alliance leaders said they would accept the outcome of the hotly contested poll if they were allowed access. The alliance had alleged the system was infiltrated by Jubilee Party agents and results doctored in Uhuru's favour.

They demanded OT Morpho should be denied the technology contract, but the French firm said the August 8 election hacking claims had no basis.

Raila then pulled out of the repeat race.

The commission also denied on Twitter reports some of its staff had been detained at the Anniversary Towers headquarters for allegedly leaking server logs to Raila.