The results of the next presidential election will be determined by what is transmitted manually if MPs pass a Bill introduced in Parliament Thursday morning.
The Bill seeks to amend the IEBC Act, the Election Act and the Elections Offences Act by giving manually transmitted results more clout than the electronically transmitted ones.
It states that where there is a discrepancy between the electronically transmitted and manually transmitted results, the manually transmitted shall prevail.
IEBC shall facilitate public information to establish a mechanism for the live streaming of results as announced at a polling station.
“… and the results so streamed shall be for purposes of public information only and shall not be the basis for a declaration by the commission,” the Bill reads.
It also seeks to streamline IEBC’s operations in case the chairperson quits or cannot exercise their mandate.
The Bill says the vice-chair should take over and if this is not possible, then the other five members should elect a chairperson from among themselves.
According to the Bill, the IEBC chair is the Returning Officer of the presidential election and is the only one mandated to declare results.
In addition, decisions of IEBC can now be made by half the number of the existing commissioners as long as the quorum is three.
Currently, at least five members of the commission must be involved in making a decision.
The Bill is sponsored by Baringo North MP William Cheptumo.
It adds that the commission may put in place a complementary mechanism for identification of voters that is simple, accurate, verifiable, secure accountable and transparent.
“… this is to ensure that the commission complies with the provisions of article 38 of the constitution,” the Bill reads.
The Bill seeks to amend section 83 of the Election Act 2011 by renumbering the existing provisions as subsections.
It proposes to delete”…the word ‘or’ appearing immediately before the words ‘that the non compliance’ in the renumbered subsection (1) and substituting therefore the word ‘and’.”
Inserting the following new subsections immediately after the renumbered subsections(1).
“(2) pursuant to section 72 of the interpretation and general provisions act, a form prescribed by this act of the regulations made thereunder shall not be void by reason of a deviation is not calculated to mislead”
