KENYA: Presidential final election results expected on March 8th after new technology failed slowing down the count

Record ID: 362509

  • Title: KENYA: Presidential final election results expected on March 8th after new technology failed slowing down the count
  • Date: 6th March 2013
  • Summary: NAIROBI, KENYA (MARCH 06, 2013) (REUTERS) WIDE OF IEBC ELECTIONS CENTRE PODIUM VARIOUS OF PARTY AGENTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHAIRMAN OF INDEPENDENT ELECTORAL AND BOUNDARIES COMMISSION, ISAACK HASSAN, SAYING: "We expect this exercise will go smoothly, it should be over by Friday. Tomorrow is Thursday we want to be realistic with all of you and Kenyans, you have seen the v
  • Embargoed: 21st March 2013 12:00
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  • Location: Kenya
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAEF5UE3R9AFN60NMJM4C7KAIVR
  • Story Text: Kenyan authorities hope to deliver the final outcome of a presidential vote on Friday, after a new technology failed, slowing down the count in the east African nation seeking to rebuild its image after a disputed 2007 poll unleashed weeks of ethnic killing.
    Partial results on Tuesday March 05, 2013 showed a lead for Uhuru Kenyatta, a politician wanted in the Hague over tribal violence at the last election five years ago.
    After problems with the electronic system, the electoral commission reverted instead on results being delivered manually to a national tallying centre overnight.
    Isaack Hassan, chairman Independent Elections and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) said, he hoped to declare the winner on Friday or latest Monday and urged Kenyans to remain calm.
    "We expect this exercise will go smoothly, it should be over by Friday. Tomorrow is Thursday we want to be realistic with all of you and Kenyans, you have seen the verification process to confirm every details from returning officer and some are still being airlifted so they will be arriving tomorrow, either in the morning or in the afternoon," said Hassan However, the initial manual tallying at the centre immediately elicited complaints from some party agents and officials.
    But the commission insisted the election results would not be compromised.
    "The law, let me make it clear, the elections act together with the governing regulations do not require a process for, any other process here at the national tallying centre. The law gives the commission the power to get the original forms and read the results as submitted by the returning officer and authenticated and signed by all the political party agents at the tallying centre," said Thomas Retangula, an IEBC commissioner.
    The slow release of results, and the failure of the electronic system meant to beam numbers to a central tallying centre, deepened voter anxiety across the country.
    William Ruto, The presidential running mate to Jubilee candidate Kenyatta, said his coalition welcomed the process of releasing the official results and urged for calm in the country with the partial count still giving the lead to a politician who faces charges in The Hague for the bloodshed.
    "This evening the Jubilee coalition notes that the process of official release of results has commenced at the Bomas of Kenya, this is the process that Kenyans have been waiting for patiently," he said.
    Kenya's last election saw some 1,200 people killed in ethnic violence after outgoing president Mwai Kibaki was declared the victor over Odinga amid charges of voting fraud. This time, Monday's (March 04, 2013) vote saw at least 15 people killed in pockets of violence but no repeat so far of unrest on such a large scale.
    "We want to state that the Jubilee coalition supports the IEBC in releasing this official results. We want however to request the commission to expedite this exercise of the release of the results that already in their custody at the Bomas of Kenya so that Kenyans can begin to know where this whole exercise is leading," added Ruto.
    But the biggest test of whether calm prevails will be whether the candidates and their supporters accept the outcome. The stakes are high for both candidates and a dispute over the fate of a sizeable number of rejected ballots could rein in Kenyatta's early lead and raise the chances of an April runoff.
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