IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati (centre) addressing a Press conference. He has up to August 15 to release results. FILE PHOTO | NMG
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairman Wafula Chebukati will likely announce results of the Tuesday’s presidential contest on Friday.
Mr Chebukati said on Thursday the IEBC expects all the Form 34Bs, which contain results from constituency return officers, from around the country by noon Friday.
“We have asked all our officers to send in the forms by 11 a.m tomorrow. Once we’re done with the validation, we will immediately tell Kenyans who their next President is,” he said.
By 2 p.m on Thursday, 117 of the 290 Form 34Bs had been received at the National Tallying Centre at Bomas of Kenya. Despite its multi-billion shilling electronic voting system, the crucial evidence on voting comes from the paper forms signed at each of the country’s 41,000 polling stations.
Results in each polling station are recorded in Form 34A, which agents from each party must sign.
These are then scanned and sent to the election board for posting online, a measure designed to combat rigging.
The 34As are collated at the constituency level and another 290 form 34Bs are sent to the National Tallying Centre.
The IEBC has up to August 15 to announce the presidential election results in line with the law, which grants the commission seven days after the poll day to make the announcement.
In 2013, the IEBC announced the presidential results on March 8 after the March 4 polls.
Mr Chebukati gave the exercise a thumbs-up. “Our preliminary report shows that hacking was attempted but did not succeed,” he said.
He urged political leaders to avoid sentiments that can stoke tension among supporters.
Nasa presidential candidate Raila Odinga and his team have dismissed the provisional results indicating President Kenyatta was poised for a resounding victory.
Mr Odinga claimed the IEBC systems and website had been hacked to produce a “fictitious” lead for the incumbent.
On Thursday evening, Nasa’s Musalia Mudavadi said Mr Odinga was ahead of Mr Kenyatta.
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Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
