NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 17 – A coalition of civil society organisations under the umbrella of Kura Yangu, Sauti Yangu are agitating for an audit of the presidential election results.
Kura Yangu, Sauti Yangu which comprises the embattled Kenya Human Rights Commission and AfriCOG, among others, says their 500 election monitors have reported “massive anomalies” between the results captured on the now famous Forms 34A and B and those announced and electronically transmitted by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
“The amount of missing data, a full week after the election, calls into question whether the declaration of results could be made legitimately,” the Executive Director of the Kenyan Section of the International Commission of Jurists Sam Mohochi posed on behalf of the group.
They have categorised the discrepancies into seven: a discrepancy between the number of valid presidential ballots cast as reported on IEBC’s portal in comparison to those announced by its Chairman Wafula Chebukati.
Second, a difference in the number of certified registered voters and those announced by Chebukati when he declared the presidential election result on Friday.
“The total number of registered voters certified after the KPMG audit was 19,611,423, the total number of ballots in the ballot packing list was 19,613,846. The IEBC Chairman declared the total number of registered voters as 19,637,061.”
The third and fourth discrepancies identified are to do with the number of rejected votes, the fifth, a discrepancy in the presidential election results announced at the constituency and county tallying centres.
“For example in Kisumu, valid votes total up to 378,903 against 430,423 from constituencies in the county, showing a deduction of 60,520 votes.”
The sixth and seventh concerns raised respectively are differences in the number of votes cast for the different elective posts in the same polling stations and cases where the voter turnout exceeded the number of registered voters.
“Kithare Primary School in Meru shows 448 votes cast for the presidency and only 354 for MCA, even though every voter received six ballots.”
They say they are therefore keen to see how the Supreme Court will handle said concerns with Mohochi saying they’re considering applying for amicus status in the petition the National Super Alliance plans on filing.
AfriCOG board member Gladwell Otieno and ICJ Chairman Njonjo Mue say a lot falls on the shoulders of the Supreme Court to impartially examine the election exercise and determine if it met the constitutional imperatives of accuracy, verifiability, security, accountability and transparency.