The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has announced four changes it will make ahead of the October 26 repeat presidential election.
Speaking on Friday, Commissioner Roselyne Akombe explained that some of the reforms made by the body would enhance the upcoming poll.
Results Verification
According to Akombe, the electoral body will conduct proper verification of the results before announcing the official results which should be done within seven days.
“We have seven days to announce the results. We shall not be rushed to announce no matter the pressure mounted on the staff," stated Akombe.
During the presidential petition, the Commission was faulted for announcing unverified results from the polling stations.
Standardised forms
The IEBC has stated that it will standardize the results declaration forms with the presiding and returning officers expected to ascertain their security features before signing and submitting them.
The elctoral body has resolved to make all forms 34A and 34B uniform to avoid any discrepancies as highlighted by the Supreme Court.
Media Coverage
Akombe also affirmed that during the October 26 poll, the media will cover results from all 290 constituencies compared to the August 8 poll where the media streamed the results from the IEBC National Tallying Centre at Bomas of Kenya.
"All results will be verified at the constituency level before transmission,” she stated.
The Commissioner ascertained that Safaricom will be the main service provider helping in the transmission of results.
[caption caption="IEBC Commissioner Roselyn Akombe"]
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200 Presiding officers fired
IEBC has also fired 200 presiding officers who conducted the August election after looking into errors that the Supreme Court highlighted.
“We have dropped over 200 presiding officers who made errors in the previous election. We have also dropped some ROs that after vetting, were found not to be competent,” She added.
[caption caption="Commissioner Akombe"]
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