Raila demand answers on extra IEBC forms

Azimio-One Kenya Coalition presidential candidate Raila Odinga has sparked another row with the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) over alternative set of results declaration forms replete with all security elements.

Azimio’s chief legal adviser, Paul Mwangi wrote a letter to IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati that the electoral agency had not provided sufficient answers to their question concerning the extra book.

This is after IEBC commissioners in Athens told poll stakeholders that extra Form 34As were needed in each polling station because observers, media, and other stakeholders wanted a copy.

“We reject this explanation because Book 2 of 2 from which it is alleged copies for stakeholders will be obtained is more than just a copy.It is actually a fully-fledged Form 34As complete with all security features similar to those in Book 1 of 2,” Mwangi said in the letter.

The second volume includes independent and distinct serial numbering, resulting in “a separate and parallel result declaration form.”

According to the team, the IEBC only needs six original Form 34As for the presidential election: one for the national returning officer, one for each candidate, and one to be sealed within the vote boxes with other documents.

He stated that their skepticism stems from the fact that members of the public were never notified of the second book, which was discovered at the printing plant during an inspection.

The Azimio legal brass were equally displeased with the IEBC statement that the “form will produce itself when results are entered in” on Form 34B, which the IEBC is not printing.

The use of statutory declaration forms was one of the reasons on which the Supreme Court declared the 2017 presidential election invalid.

The Election (General) Regulations, 2017, include Form 34B, with its format specified in the schedule of forms.

“In all elections, Form34B has been printed with similar security features as Form34A. There is no room for the IEBC to exercise any discretion in this matter,” Mwangi said.

Raila’s team claim that they addressed the problem in front of his UDA rivals while obtaining ballot papers at the airport and that they demand a meeting with the IEBC to resolve the issues.

This was despite the fact that the IEBC had printed a manual voter register for each polling place across the country.

The IEBC yesterday said that it had received the first batch of presidential ballot papers at JKIA.

The election commission, on the other hand, stated that they would only use the manual register if technology failed.

According to IEBC, they are deploying six additional Kiems kits every ward to decrease the potential of manual registers being utilised.