Observer group's parallel tally almost similar to IEBC results
Tuesday August 16 2022
Elections Observation Group Chairperson Anne Ireri. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NMG
A parallel vote tabulation (PVT) by an independent elections observer group has produced almost similar results to that announced by Kenya’s poll agency on Monday evening, even as there was a division in the electoral body when some commissioners disputed the results.
The Nairobi-based Elections Observation Group (Elog) said it deployed more than 5,000 observers across the 47 counties before, during and after the August 9, 2022 General Election.
The group also had 1,000 PVT observers who were “carefully recruited, specially trained and deployed to a nationally representative random sample of polling stations,” and independently did their separate tally on the election results.
Based on Elog’s findings, William Ruto garnered 50.7 percent of the total votes cast and Raila Odinga, 48.7, while George Wajockoya and Waihiga Mwaure got 0.5 and 0.2 percent, respectively.
Elog said their tally results have a margin of error of between 0.1 and 2.1 percent.
According to the IEBC, Ruto garnered 50.49 percent of the votes against Raila’s 48.85 percent, with Wajackoyah and Mwaure getting 0.44 and 0.23 percent, respectively.
Anne Ireri, Elog Chairperson, said the organisation is, however, “concerned” with the chaos that erupted at the national tallying centre and the division among the commissioners shortly before the presidential election results were announced.
“We call on all candidates to resolve disputes over election results, including results of the presidential election, peacefully through legal channels,” she said.
Elog has conducted parallel vote tabulations in the last two general elections and the 2010 referendum, with their tally results always consistent with the electoral body’s, despite contestations of the results and subsequent petitions at the Supreme Court.
In 2017, their PVT results were almost identical to the IEBC official results, but the Supreme Court nullified the elections on grounds that the poll agency had “committed irregularities and illegalities in the transmission of results.”
Ms Ireri said that although the 2022 election reflects major improvements from the 2017 polls, certain challenges still marred the process, including insufficient access to election information in the pre-election period and the last-minute postponement of some gubernatorial and parliamentary elections which shows the commission’s failure to conduct due diligence.
The organisation has, therefore, among other recommendations, urged the polls body to ensure “consistent openness, transparency, inclusive participation, and timely access to information by the IEBC and other agencies concerned with election management.”