NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 5- The Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC) has officially declared that the ‘Yes’ team won Wednesday\’s historic referendum with 5,954,767million votes.
IIEC Chairman Isaack Hassan said the final national tally were results from 207 constituencies that had already submitted the number of votes cast in their area by the time of going to press.
“For Yes 5,954,767million this represents 67.25 percent of the votes. For ‘No’ 2,687,193 which represents 30.35 percent,” he said.
The tally did not however include three constituencies; Sirisia, Turkana South and Narok South.
Tthe chairman said: “This will not have any significant impact on the final count.”
Out of the registered voters of over 12.4 million people, 71 percent or nearly eight million people came out to make their voices heard, the commission said.
With the constitution being approved by more than 50 percent of the votes cast and achieving a 25 percent support in all the eight provinces, Mr Hassan pointed out that it has reached and even surpassed the set threshold and the resounding win thus gave the document unparalleled political legitimacy.
“Pursuant to the Constitution of Kenya Review Act, (2008) and the Referendum Regulations (2010), I do declare that the proposed new constitution is hereby ratified,” he stated.
Mr Hassan was however quick to point out that although the ‘Greens’ carried the day, victory belonged to all Kenyans from all walks of lives and therefore the need for all leaders to work together to unite everyone.
“This is a victory for Kenya… The people have spoken. The majority has spoken loud. The majority had their way but the minority have been heard," said Mr Hassan.
He commended Kenyans for conducting themselves with decorum and voting peacefully, a move he said helped redeem the image of the country, which was ruined after the events that followed the disputed presidential elections in 2008.
“We have proved to ourselves and to others that we are better than what we saw in 2008. We have cleansed ourselves from the ghosts of 2008; it is a new dawn; the birth of a new Republic,” he concluded amid ululations and cheers from the crowd gathered at the Bomas of Kenya for the final tally. Before Mr Hassan made the announcement, he acknowledged that the referendum process was difficult and demanding exercise and hence the hitches such as missing names in voters’ registers and the pilot of the electronic voting were bound to happen.
The high number of spoilt votes and the ‘not’ so qualified election officials were a pointer to them that the commission needs to do more civic education to ensure that this does not happen in future.
As challenging as this was however and despite the fact that it has conducted several by –elections, the IIEC said it would provide a learning curve on how they should conduct future voting processes that are efficient and effective.
“Conducting the referendum has given the IIEC the opportunity to learn lessons; to improve its systems and operations and procedures. We will go back to the drawing board and look at what happened during this process so that we can draw lessons on how we can improve for the future of the Commission,” the chairman reported.
The referendum has been touted as the most successful voting exercise in Kenya’s history with no security incidences reported throughout the country.
After the passing of the vote, what remains now is how the country will be reconciled and how it will also go about implementing legislations outlined in the new law.
President Mwai Kibaki in his address to the nation shortly before the results were declared said his government would soon announce the effective date of the new law.
The following are tally by provinces:
Nairobi Province: Yes .678,621 (74.08pc)with No 208,195 (20pc)
Coast Province: Yes; 425, 626 (76.9)……..No 111, 531 20p………
Western Province: Yes 681264 (81.9pc)……. No 127230 (15.3).
Nyanza: Yes; 1,174, 033 (91 pc) No; 101 491 8pc.
North Eastern: Yes; 110992 (95.2) No 4970 (4.3pc)
Eastern Province: Yes; 741,089 (55.07) No; 572109 (42.51pc)
Rift Valley Province: Yes; 868,175 (38.5pc) No 1,326,079 (58.8pc).This is minus three constituencies.
Central Province: Yes; 1274,967 (83pc) No; 235,588 (15pc).
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