The Independent Electoral, and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has invited the four presidential candidates for a consultative meeting over the concerns of forms 34 A and 34 B.
Through a letter addressed to William Ruto (Kenya Kwanza), Raila Odinga (Azimio), George Wajackoyah (Roots Party), and David Waihiga (Agano Party), the electoral body’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Marjan Hussein Marjan requested the presidential candidates to appear before the electoral agency tomorrow at the Bomas of Kenya.
“The purpose of this letter is to invite you and/or your representatives to a consultative meeting, to address the concerns raised, on Friday 29th July 2022 at the Bomas of Kenya at 11:00 am,” Marjan said.
This comes after 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.
“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.
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.