Polls agency starts to verify results amid fraud claim
Former South African President Thabo Mbeki (left) with ex-US Secretary of State John Kerry at the national tallying centre in Nairobi on August 9, 2017. PHOTO | AFP
IEBC is looking to restore confidence in the exercise already facing serious doubts from the opposition.
The IEBC has said the results it had been streaming online and on the large screens were “unofficial.”
In carrying out the exercise, that the IEBC will also be making reference to Form 34As which are the official presidential results declaration forms at the polling stations.
The validation and publishing of the official presidential results started on Wednesday at the Bomas of Kenya auditorium as the Independent and Electoral Boundaries Commission (IEBC) looked to restore confidence in the exercise already facing serious doubts from the opposition.
This came after Nasa presidential candidate Raila Odinga questioned the authenticity of the results the IEBC had been streaming since Tuesday evening when the polls officially closed.
The IEBC itself has said the results it had been streaming online and on the large screens were “unofficial.”
In carrying out the exercise, the Business Daily understands, that the IEBC will also be making reference to Form 34As which are the official presidential results declaration forms at the polling stations.
“Each commissioner has been given seven to eight constituencies to oversee,” IEBC vice-chairperson Consolata Maina said.
From the Form 34As, which come from the polling stations and 34Bs from the constituency tallying centres the commission says it will generate Form 34C which collates results for each candidate from all the 290 constituencies.
Form 34C is also the one that IEBC will use to declare the results, which by law should done by August 15, or seven days from the date of the elections.
The commission has invited all the agents of the eight presidential candidates to participate in the exercise right on the floor of the Bomas of Kenya.
On the validation of the forms, Kibisu Kabatesi who works at the Nasa secretariat said while the alliance has its IT staff at Bomas for the exercise, “we are suspicious of those forms”.
“We requested the IEBC access to the Form 34As yesterday (Tuesday) but we weren’t granted the request.
“We don’t know where they have suddenly obtained the forms which we are supposed to verify,” said Mr Kabatesi.
Nasa, he said, was putting together the forms from its agents and has so far managed to do so in 52 per cent of all the polling stations.
As the exercise kicked off at the Bomas auditorium, the commission announced that they had only received 28,000 Form 34Bs from the constituencies.
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Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
