Speaking yesterday in Nairobi as IEBC continued to announce results from across the country, Election Observation Group (Elog) said Form 36 should be opened up to the media and observers to be counterchecked for accuracy.
Elog is made up of a coalition of Kenyan civil society groups.
Form 36 contains the number of voters registered in a particular area, total votes cast and the results as announced at that level.
Every Returning Officer is required to furnish IEBC headquarters a duly signed Form 36 that has been validated through signing at constituency and county levels, and later signed at the headquarters.
“The essence of electronic transmission was to have data available to everybody at the same time to boost transparency. But since the system has not worked, IEBC should compensate for that by opening up Form 36 so that the element of transparency is not lost,” said Elog Chairman Kennedy Masime.
The observer group’s panel member Davinder Lamba said their analysis of the counting process indicated it was not up to the required standard. Elog noted that political parties requested a recount in the presidential election in only 2.8 per cent of the polling streams.
“An Orange Democratic Movement/Wiper party agent was present in 88 per cent of all the polling streams. Where they were present, the agent signed the declaration of results for the presidential elections in 95 per cent of these polling streams.
Similarly, The National Alliance/United Republican Party agents were present in 90 per cent of all polling streams, where they signed the declaration of results for presidential elections in 96 per cent of all polling stations,” explained Lamba.
He reassured Kenyans that Elog’s Parallel Voter Tabulation would verify and safeguard the integrity of the final presidential election results as announced by IEBC.
The observers urged politicians to stop making inflammatory public statements about the results and leave IEBC to complete its work.
Masime said CORD complaints about ‘doctored results’ made yesterday by Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka were out of order, insisting that such issues could only be raised after IEBC has announced the final results.
He urged CORD to take up the matter with the courts rather than making public statements of rejection, saying such a move would raise tension. -Standard Digital
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