NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 15 – A coalition led by former Chief Justice David Maraga wants the national presidential tallying centre at Bomas of Kenya abolished ahead of the 2027 General Election, arguing that the Constitution does not envisage a central facility for tallying presidential votes.

📻 Breaking It Down

The People’s Coalition on Electoral Reforms says the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) should not be allowed to retally, re-verify or alter presidential results that have already been counted and declared at polling stations and subsequently tallied at constituency level.

The coalition is proposing that the electoral process should end at the constituency level for purposes of tallying presidential results, with the IEBC chairperson’s role limited to declaring the outcome based on results received from constituencies.

Its position is anchored on Article 138(2) of the Constitution, which provides that a presidential election shall be held in each constituency.

📌 What You Need to Know

The group also points to Articles 86 and 138, which require votes to be counted, tallied, verified and the results announced at polling stations and constituency tallying centres.

According to the coalition, once results have been declared by a presiding officer at a polling station, they are final and should not subsequently be changed by the IEBC.

It relies heavily on the Supreme Court’s decision in the Maina Kiai case, which established the importance of results declared at polling stations in determining the final presidential tally.

“You know the Maina Kiai decision made it very clear that the results announced at the polling stations are final. They cannot be altered by anybody. They cannot be altered by the commissioners of IEBC themselves or any other person,” the coalition said.

The proposed changes would fundamentally alter the way Kenya conducts presidential elections, removing the national-level tallying stage that has traditionally been undertaken by the IEBC at Bomas of Kenya.

The coalition argues that constituency returning officers should openly and accurately collate results transmitted from polling stations before forwarding them to the national commission for the final declaration.

📰 Source: Capital FM Kenya