Constituency returning officers have started streaming into the Bomas of Kenya which is the National Tallying Centre for the repeat presidential election to deliver result declaration forms from their regions.
Unlike in the annulled August 8 presidential poll, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has asked all its 290 returning officers to physically deliver their forms, as opposed to the case where the documents were sent electronically and downloaded at Bomas for a final announcement.
“Returning officers start arriving at the National Tallying Centre, Bomas of Kenya, with hard copies of the results they sent electronically,” the IEBC tweeted on its official Twitter handle at 9am.
As at 10.33am, the IEBC had received 36,949 of 40,883 Forms 34A, the results declaration forms at the poling stations.
RESULT ANNOUNCEMENT
Similarly, the commission had received 101 of the 290 Forms 34B, the results declaration forms at the constituency.
In the new results path gazetted by the IEBC, presiding officers will tally and announce results at polling stations, simultaneously transmit them electronically to the constituency and national tallying centre, and then hand deliver the forms to the returning officer at the constituency.
At the constituency tallying centre, the returning officer will tally all the results from the polling stations under their jurisdiction, electronically transmit the results declaration Form 34B, and then hand deliver both forms to the Bomas of Kenya.
The presidential election national returning officer, IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati, will then collate all the Forms 34B, verify the details as per the Forms 34A under every constituency, and then announce the final result.
DELAY
Notably, the commission, unlike the August poll, will announce aloud the constituency results instead of collating all the results, and just making one final declaration.
Since all forms have to be delivered to the Bomas of Kenya and announced one by one before the final declaration, the announcement of the final result might delay as compared to the August 8 poll where the announcement was made only three days after close of polling.
“We will take our time. We will not be rushed to announce results. Our returning officers will only announce results they have accurately verified,” former IEBC commissioner Roselyn Akombe said of the polls.
Dr Akombe later fled to New York in the United States where she resigned, saying she could not be part of a “mockery”, arguing that as was constituted, the IEBC could not guarantee a credible poll.
TURNOUT
As at Thursday night, Mr Chebukati estimated that 48 per cent of the 19.6 million Kenyans (translating to about 9.1 million Kenyans) had voted in the repeat poll, and that 35,564 of the country’s 40,883 polling stations opened for voting.
But later, Mr Chebukati, on his Twitter handle, brought down the figure of voter turnout to just over 30 per cent.
“The 48 per cent was a ‘best estimate’ turnout from the team. Latest actual figures from 267 constituencies show 6,553,858 Kenyans turned out to vote,” Mr Chebukati tweeted on his Twitter account.
The IEBC has postponed to Saturday voting in Nyanza counties of Kisumu, Siaya, Migori and Homa Bay.
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