IEBC: How we'll transmit presidential results

IEBC Chairperson Wafula Chebukati addresses members of the press during the launch National elections call centre and Media Centre on July 12, 2022 at Bomas Of Kenya.[Edward Kiplimo, Standard] The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) says should there be conflicting presidential results in Forms 34A and 34B on Election Day, the commission will treat figures in Form 34A as final. The IEBC says that any complaints with respect to the results announced at the polling station will be resolved by the presiding officer. However, the commission adds that any complaints or discrepancies that may arise in the results' Form 34A can only be resolved by the Supreme Court. The electoral agency maintains its commitment to transparent elections, saying chances of manipulating Forms 34A are non-existent. "In accordance with Article 86 of the Constitution, the results are those announced by the presiding officer at the polling station. With respect to the presidential election, those results are captured in form 34A," the commission's chairperson Wafula Chebukati said in a press statement on Wednesday, August 3. "Upon close of the poll, the presiding officer is required to count the votes garnered by each candidate and enter the respective votes in Form 34A, take a scanned image of that Form using the KIEMS device and transmit to the presidential tallying center, avail (sic) a copy to the agents and observers and deliver the original to the constituency returning officer for onward transmission to the chairperson of the commission, who is the returning officer for the presidential election," said Chebukati. The IEBC says the Forms 34A are foolproof against manipulation. "There can be no discrepancy between the results recorded in Form 34A at the polling station and those transmitted electronically or even those received by the returning officer because it is essentially the same form captured by the presiding officer, witnessed by the agents with a resultant five carbon copies," said Chebukati. "The constituency returning officer is required to collate all Form 34As and prepare Form 34B and submit all the 34As together with the 348 to the presidential returning officer." Conflicting Forms 34A and 34B "In the event there is a discrepancy between Form 34As and Form 348 with respect to the entries for any polling station, the entry in the respective Form 34A will be taken as the correct reflection of the results at the polling station." Forms 34A were at the centre of the disputed August 8, 2017 presidential election, when the then-ODM presidential candidate Raila Odinga argued at the Supreme Court that IEBC chairperson Wafula Chebukati proceeded to announce the election outcome without considering some 11,000 Forms 34A. The Supreme Court agreed with Odinga's argument, consequently nullifying the presidential outcome and ordering fresh polls in the State House race. Chebukati said the accreditation of all polling station agents will be undertaken by respective returning officers. The IEBC said Kenya has 46,229 polling stations across the country. On ballot papers' security, the IEBC said they come with features that make it hard to duplicate or send fake ones. "The commission has put in place elaborate security features on the ballot papers and result declaration forms to avoid any attempt to reproduce them. These include, but is not limited to visible and invisible security features, polling station data personalisation, barcodes and QR codes," said Chebukati. "Further, the commission in partnership with the National Police Service has deployed armed security to guard ballot papers in transit and at the respective warehouses." The commission further said that when electronic voter identification system fails on August 9, then the IEBC officers will resort to the manual register to identify the voters. "The commission is guided by the decision in NASA vs IEBC in 2017 that adopted the commission's protocol to use the printed register of voters upon confirmation that the KIEMS kits have completely failed and that there is no possibility of repair or replacement." One can check his or her voting status by sending their identification card number or birth certificate number to SMS code 70000.

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