William Ruto’s government proposes legislation aimed at stopping live broadcasting of presidential election results

• Senators Aaron Cheruiyot and Stuart Mazzaio supported the bill to remove Section 39 of the Electoral Act.
• The amendment proposes that the IEBC publish results online but provide physical results for official announcement.
• If passed, Kenyans will count their own votes based on digital images of Form 3A uploaded by the IEBC.

Nancy Odindo, a journalist at TUKO.co.ke, has over three years of experience covering politics, news and features in digital and print media in Kenya.

Kericho Senator Aaron Cheruiyot and his Kilifi counterpart Stuart Mazzayo have jointly sponsored a bill aimed at ending the mandatory live broadcast of presidential election results by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

The proposed amendment, currently before the Senate, is based on a report by the National Dialogue Committee (NADCO), which was formed in response to anti-government protests and included Kenyan coalition members Kwanza and Azimio.

The bill calls for section 39 of the Electoral Act, which currently obliges the IEBC to facilitate public access through live broadcast of results, to be deleted, stating that such broadcasts are for information purposes only and do not form the basis for the announcement of election results.

How will Kenyans access the presidential election results?

The amendment also stipulates that the IEBC will continue to publish results online for public access, but will provide physical results for official declarations.

This mechanism allows the public to compare electronically transmitted results with the final declared results.

In addition, the bill clarifies that any failure to transmit or publish results electronically will not invalidate the final results declared or announced by the IEBC.

Under the new proposal, polling place results would remain final and presidential election results would be transmitted electronically, counted, reported and released before results for other elected offices.

If passed, the bill will require Kenyans to use digital images of Form 3A uploaded to the IEBC portal to access polling station results. Citizens will then calculate the totals themselves while awaiting the final declaration.

The proposed legislation has sparked debate, with critics raising concerns about transparency and the availability of real-time election updates.

Why Kenya should implement an e-voting system

Elsewhere, political activist Billy Mijungu called on the next IEBC to adopt an electronic voting system, highlighting its potential to improve transparency and reduce doubts about election results.

Although the IEBC currently uses electronic registration and verification, voting and counting remain largely manual.

Mijungu stressed the need for reliable high-speed internet in the more than 40,000 polling stations across the country to ensure smooth e-voting.

Source: TUKO.co.ke