The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has done away with the periodic announcement of presidential election results at the national tallying centre.
This is according to the commission's Chief Executive Officer Ezra Chiloba who said the agency had shifted from the old way of declaring all results from constituencies before they could announce the final tally.
Mr Chiloba said that unlike in the past, the IEBC chairman will not announce the results of the presidential election periodically as they come but will collate the figures from all the 290 constituencies and declare the final results.
“We do not know how long it will take before the final result is known. But, since returning officers don’t have to travel to Nairobi we expect it may be fast,” said Chiloba on Tuesday when he briefed the media about the commission’s plan on access of results.
The electoral commission has seven days from the day of the elections on August 8 to declare the final results and submit them to the President and Chief Justice, as per the law.
According to Chiloba, it is not a must for presiding officers to travel to the constituency tallying centre because results can be relayed electronically.
“Returning officers are not obligated to wait for the physical form from the polling station,” he said, adding that the Kenya Integrated Election Management System that the commission will use will make it hard to rig the election.
The electoral agency will collate and declare presidential results after receiving scanned form 34B from all returning officers.
Meanwhile, IEBC announced that it will conduct a nationwide dry run next week to test its electronic result transmission system.
The test will see simulation results transmitted from polling stations to the National Tallying Centre at Bomas of Kenya, an exercise that will be witnessed by the public.
