NAIROBI, Kenya Aug 14 – The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) was Sunday almost halfway through in the ongoing exercise of verifying and tallying presidential results.
By 6.30 am, the Commission had relayed verified results from 144 constituencies of the 291.
The Commission was yet to declare the results of the other 146 constituencies in a process marred by chaotic scenes over counter accusations by agents of leading candidates Raila Odinga of Azimio coalition and United Democratic Alliance’s (UDA) William Ruto.
The Commission on Saturday hastened the process of validating presidential results from constituencies to beat the seven-day constitutional deadline to declare the outcome of Tuesday’s election.
But chaotic scenes in the tallying hall prompted the deployment of anti-riot police officers.
The Commission has until Tuesday, August 16, 2022, to declare the winner of the presidential election to succeed Uhuru Kenyatta whose second and final term has ended.
The tallying of the results, which began on Thursday, kicked off at a slow pace, which worried the already restless and anxious Kenyans waiting to know the election’s outcome.
“We have observed that we are not moving as fast as we should. Therefore, this exercise needs to be concluded as soon as possible,” IEBC Chairperson Wafula Chebukati said on Friday as he announced a 15-minute timeline for validation of each Form 34B to speed up the process.
The Commission scaled up verification desks at the Bomas of Kenya – the Commission’s national tallying center — from five to twelve.
“We are committed to releasing the results before the deadline,” Commissioner Juliana Cherera said.
The validation exercise involved comparing results of the Forms 34A – generated from 46,229 polling stations across the country, to Forms 34B containing constituency tallies submitted by 290 Returning Officers.
The validations of Form 34B tallies against Form 34As came about after a ruling by the Supreme Court in the 2017 presidential election petition, which affirmed results declared at polling stations as final and the primary reference point for tallies.
Agents of the two leading presidential candidates – Raila Odinga (Azimio) and William Ruto of the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) — had been blamed for delaying the verification process.
The verification of results has been stopped several times after complaints by supporters of the leading candidates.
