The electoral body has objected the move by National Super Alliance (NASA) to set up a parallel tallying centre for the August General Election, terming it as illegal.
Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Chairman Wafula Chebukati said today that it is the only one allowed under law to count, tally, collate, announce and declare results of an election.
Opposition leader, Raila Odinga said on Sunday that NASA would establish a parallel result tallying centre saying the law allows for parallel tallying and dismissed claims by the electoral body that such an exercise is unconstitutional.
Raila announced a new strategy that the coalition would adopt whereby 50 youths will man each of the 45,000 polling stations in the country in addition to ensuring that no one registered in their respective station fails to cast a vote.
“The youths will transmit in real time results being announced by the IEBC Returning Officer to the Nasa national tallying centre…As IEBC will be announcing their results, media houses will be relaying their results as well. We as Nasa we will also announce our results from Nasa tallying centre,” Raila stated.
But yesterday, IEBC stood firm on the threats by NASA saying it is the only body established by law to manage elections and it would be a residual for chaos for other people to take up that role.
“Our attention has been drawn to the newspaper reports suggesting that NASA coalition will announce its own results alongside the Commission. For the avoidance of doubt it is only the Commission that is allowed under the law to count, tally, collate, announce and declare the results of an election. Other actors including political parties shall have access to the results within the framework established by the Commission,” Chebukati said today.
