The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has allowed the media and political parties to set up parallel tallying in the August 9 General election.
The commission’s chairperson Wafula Chebukati termed the move as a significant step in ensuring transparency in the August 9 polls.
“The media houses, political parties and candidates are free to have their own parallel tally of the results, but that will only help you do the reporting,” he stated.
Speaking during a consultative meeting with the media sector in Kwale County on Saturday, Chebukati who doubles up as the National Returning Officer for the presidential election, however, warned political stakeholders against declaring anyone a winner saying that is his constitutional duty.
“You can count the results but of course do not declare. That one you leave to me,” he stated.
Earlier, media outlets and a section of political players had sought a go ahead from the commission to tally the presidential results.
Chebukati explained that the move is aimed at strengthening the participation of all players, including the media, in electoral matters specifically on results management.
“The media houses, political parties and candidates are free to have their own parallel tally. We can all work together and have one of the peaceful elections in the country,” he added.
In addition, IEBC also asked candidates and political parties to respect the role media plays during and after elections.
“Candidates, their agents and political parties are required to respect the role the media plays during and after elections. Candidates and political parties are required not to prevent the media from accessing rallies, meetings, demonstrations.”
Last week, the IEBC gazetted the voters register which showed the total number of registered voters across all the 47 counties rose from 19,611,423 in 2017 to 22,120,458 in 2022.
Nairobi, Nakuru and Kiambu are the only counties with more than a million registered voters ahead of the August General elections.
According to the Gazetted register of voters, Nairobi leads with 2,415,310 voters, followed by Kiambu with 1,275,008 voters and 1,054,856 voters in Nakuru.
The commission has cleared four candidates for the presidential race including frontrunners William Ruto (UDA/Kenya Kwanza Alliance) and Raila Odinga (ODM/Azimio).
The other two are George Wajackoyah of the Roots Party and David Mwaure of the Agano Party.
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