Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Chairman Wafula Chebukati has stated that the electoral agency hopes that the provisional presidential results being relayed by media houses will be similar at the end of their independent tallies.
According to Chebukati, the results should reconcile at the tail end of the tallies since the media houses are all using form 34As downloaded from the body’s portal.
“We hope the results at media houses will look similar because they are from the same portal,” he said.
Chebukati also averred that the power of declaration of presidential results rests with him. He is the national returning officer, tasked with making the final announcement of the presidential contest.
“The final announcement and declaration of the presidential results will be done by the national returning officer at the Bomas,” he added.
His pronouncement comes amid calls for mainstream media houses to have a common tallying centre.
MCK raises concern over different presidential results beamed by media houses
The Media Council of Kenya (MCK) has raised concerns over different presidential results being streamed by different media houses.
MCK, through its Chief Executive Officer and secretary to the council David Omwoyo, noted that the streaming of different results was causing genuine uneasiness among Kenyans.
“The council appreciates this is a genuine uneasiness, given its implication on anxiety levels among the public,” Omwoyo said in a letter dated August 10, 2022.
Omwoyo said that while the relayed results were from the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), their sequencing by media houses was being done from different voting areas.
He said that MCK was consulting media owners and editors to find an urgent solution to ensure Kenyans receive synchronized results.
The CEO took issue with media houses for failing to conduct joint production on relaying of the results and urged Kenyans to only go with the final tally that will be announced by the electoral agency.
“Media houses have previously executed joint production with remarkable success on such matters of national interest. In the meantime, we remind Kenyans that the final results of the elections will be declared by IEBC,” he added.
Social media has been abuzz all day after different media houses displayed completely different results raising questions about their sources.
Most netizens, depending on which presidential candidate they support, have been switching from one station to another.
