Ruto, Raila Back Proposal to Curb IEBC Chair’s Sole Powers in Presidential Results Declaration
A new bill backed by President William Ruto and opposition leader Raila Odinga seeks to take away the IEBC chairperson’s power to declare presidential election results.
Nyamira Senator Okong’o Omogeni told Citizen TV during a breakfast show that the bill is before the Senate. The plan is to give the 290 constituency returning officers the mandate to announce presidential results.
This is based on the National Dialogue Committee (NADCO) report. The aim is to simplify the declaration process by decentralising it, reduce the burden on the IEBC chair and increase transparency.
“We want to eliminate the idea that the IEBC chairman is the only one who can declare the presidency,” Omogeni said. “We have proposed that this responsibility be given to the 290 returning officers at the constituency level.”
He argued that the proposed reform will ease political and legal tensions by decentralising the announcement of results. This he said will help reduce disputes that arise from perceived irregularities in the final stages of the results tally.
The bill also recommends that the presidential vote be given top priority during counting. Under the plan, returning officers will be required to first count and announce presidential results before counting other election categories.
According to Omogeni this will enable same-day results declarations, just like in countries like the United States.
“You have six elections but yes, you start with the presidential,” he said. “When you finish as the returning officer you make a declaration so that we have the results by 11 am.”
Omogeni also emphasized the need for IEBC to focus on training of its staff before elections. He said building capacity among staff should come first before technological solutions.
“If transparency is ensured at the polling station, the final results will be credible,” he noted. “The best way for IEBC to uphold the law is to train its officers before the elections.”
He also suggested involving international auditors to verify results in real time, citing South Africa as a case study where external audit firms were used to boost credibility. But he clarified that this was his personal opinion and the decision lies with IEBC.
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Ruto, Raila Back Proposal to Curb IEBC Chair’s Sole Powers in Presidential Results Declaration