Sh57.3 billion needed for 2027 elections, IEBC announces

IEBC Chair Dr. Erastus Edung Ethekon during the swearing in of the commission at Supreme Court on July 11, 2025. [Kanyiri Wahito, Standard]

The Independence Electoral and Boundaries Commission has ruled out a review and delimitation of boundaries before the 2027 General Election.

The electoral agency also announced that the much-anticipated elections would cost Sh57.3 billion as it seeks to administer a free, fair and credible exercise.

Appearing before the National Assembly’s Constitution Implementation and Oversight Committee (CIOC), the IEBC cast doubt on delimitation of boundaries being undertaken to a sensible and satisfactory conclusion in the less than two years to the polls.

Citing legal landmines and constrictive timelines, IEBC Chairman Erastus Ethekon said it was not practical to mobilise resources and conduct the already time-bad exercise before the decisive 2027 General Election.

“We need a minimum two to three years to conduct this fairly emotive exercise. My fear is looking at the timelines (and all the other activities we need to undertake before 2027) we might not adhere to the timelines,” he said.

“We will need to reach out to Parliament to do certain things including helping us address this issue of timelines as we navigate the current constitutional crisis we are in. We can also reach out to the Judiciary for another advisory so that we can make our internal decision on a way forward as a commission,” he added.

Mr Ethekon was responding to committee vice chair William Kamket who sought to know practicability of the delimitation exercise being undertaken and how it would affect the elections. “It is already past time for you to conduct the boundaries review and delimitation and looking at how you are going, I am afraid you might not unlock the current crisis. Tell us, what is the worst that could happen if we do not implement it?” posed Kamket.

Committee chairperson Caroli Omondi had questioned whether the delayed undertaking could form a legal basis for any Kenyan to move to court challenging the 2027 polls. He also warned the commission against adapting the recommendations of the National Dialogue Committee (NADCO) report on the matter since it was a politically instigated process.

“I would urge you to leave the NADCO proposals out of this and come up with your own proposals on a way forward,” he reiterated.

The NADCO report had proposed that the boundaries review and delimitation exercise be conducted between every 10 to 20 years as opposed to the current constitutional provision of 8 to 12 years.

Ethekon clarified that the exercise would not change the number of constituencies as they would remain at 290.

“I am seeing a lot of requests on my desk including from MPs with some asking that we split some constituencies but I want to conform that the number of constituencies will remain the same. But for the 1,450 wards, however, we can review the numbers and their names,” he submitted.

At the same time, the IEBC revealed that the 2027 elections are slated for August 10, 2027 and would cost Sh57.3 billion.

IEBC Chief Executive Officer Marjan Hussein said despite requesting Sh61 billion, the commission's budget has been rationalised to Sh57.3 billion. Some Sh2.5 billion will go towards stakeholder engagement, Sh1.4 billion towards media campaigns, Sh1 billion for legal reforms, Sh8 billion for continuous voter registration, Sh5.9 billion for printing of ballot papers, Sh3.9 billion for training of staff and agents, and Sh4.1 billion for transport.

The replacement of old KIEMS kits – which are 10 years or older- will take up Sh7 billion, while maintenance of the electoral system has been allocated Sh2.4 billion. A further Sh1 billion will be used for simulation.

"We have an issue of pending bills amounting to Sh5.7 billion, which are majorly constituted of legal fees. We are still working with the national Treasury to see how the pending bills can be funded as they are not part of our budgetary allocation,” said Marjan.

The House team also heard that on its road to 2027, the commission faced various challenges such as a huge trust deficit from Kenyans occasioned by the high turnover of commissioners, the highly ethicised politics in the country, political interference and the incessant litigation – both before and after the elections.