NAIROBI, Kenya Aug 11 – Top honchos in Azimio La Umoja One Kenya and Kenya Kwanza have made their way to the national tallying center where they are hold in a meeting.
Led by the coalition’s executive director Raphael Tuju, Laikipia Governor Nderitu Muriithi and Kitui Governor Charity Ngilu they have pitched camp at the Bomas of Kenya where the tallying center is situated.
This comes even as a buzz of activities was felt as presidential agents and elections observers witnessed the verification of results process at the tallying center.
Azimio’s presidential chief agent Sabatao ole Kanchori his deputy Caroline Karugu are among agents present from Odinga’s camp.
In Kenya Kwanza Alliance, United Democratic Alliance (UDA) Secretary General Veronica Maina and Josephat Nanok who is the executive director of William Ruto presidential campaign secretariat are among agents present.
Other notable leaders at Bomas include Murang’a Governor Mwangi wa Iria Suba North MP John Mbadi Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria and Nominated MP Wilson Sossion.
Returning officers across the country are expected to start streaming in at the national tallying center.
290 Returning Officers across the constituency tallying center are supposed to deliver Form 34B which is the collation of results across the polling station at the constituency.
The Commission is constitutionally bound to declare the results of the presidential election before August 16, 2022.
The electoral body Chairperson Wafula Chebukati on Tuesday night launched the result transmission phase, an exercise that precedes verification of results received from all the 46 229 polling stations countrywide.
As of 4.00pm, the Commission had received a total of 46,180 form 34As – presidential results from the polling station – equating to 99.89 per cent.
The poll agency noted Commissioner that they would only begin verifying the results once they have received all the forms 34A and 34B.
“We will wait for all the 290 constituencies to deliver all the forms and begin checking and verifying them,” IEBC Chair Wafula Chebukati said.
The verification exercise entails checking whether the data captured on form 34A correspond with those tabulated in form 34B.
The rigorous process of verifying and tallying votes is expected to take days, and IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati urged Kenyans on Wednesday to be patient, keen to avoid rigging allegations that have haunted previous polls.
Chebukati had disclosed that some form 34Bs of different regions which were incomplete had been uploaded on the portal.
The regions include: Ainabkoi Constituency – Uasin County and Saboti Constituency.
Whereas the Commission appeared not to be in a rush to start beaming the results, figures released by a section of media houses doing their own parallel tallying revealed that the presidential race was tight and too close to call.
The provisional results show that the front runners Deputy President William Ruto of Kenya Kwanza Alliance and Raila Odinga of Azimio La umoja are neck-to-neck in a race that will go down to the wire until all the votes are counted.
The Commission said nearly 14.2 million voters participated in the polls, a 65.4 per cent voter turnout derived from the Kenya Integrated Management System (KIEMS) kits.
Chebukati pointed out that the final voter turnout figure will be compiled after reconciling the number of voters whose identity was captured using the manual register.
“The voter turnout is based on verifying the KIEMS kits, which were functional during the voting process,” he stated.
