A crisis is looming in the country after the National Super Alliance (NASA) on Wednesday rejected a plan by the electoral commission to announce the final results of the presidential election without periodic updates of figures.
The Opposition coalition argued that the move by IEBC was a “mechanism for manipulation and mischief”, and demanded a more transparent way of announcing Presidential results.
Siaya Senator James Orengo, in a letter to IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati, noted that the commission should play by its constitutionally assigned yardsticks of independence and promoting democracy.
“It would appear that the IEBC intends to bury itself at a bunker at Bomas on August 8, 2017 and then come out into the auditorium a day or two later to announce results which have not been received and tallied in an open and transparent manner.
"In effect, the country will be kept in an agonising suspense as the results are ‘cooked and doctored.’ It will be déjà vu,” Orengo stated.
Senator Orengo further noted that periodic announcements of the results was important in ensuring that there are compliance and implementation of four fundamental constitutional principles: efficiency, transparency, and credibility.
“IEBC’s methodology is a platform for delay and fabrication of results and resonates a repeat of the tragic experience of the contrived delays in the 2007 General Election which were used to rig the presidential election,” Orengo stated.
On Tuesday, the commission announced that it would not declare any constituency results at the national tallying centre, meaning returning officers will have the final say.
"Results will be declared based on physical forms though and we do not expect any variances between the forms and the electronic data," IEBC CEO Ezra Chiloba clarified.
Mr Chiloba noted that he did not expect any delays as Returning Officers will not have to travel to the national tallying centre.
