The National Tallying Center at the Bomas of Kenya will receive the results of the presidential election, according to a step-by-step procedure laid forth by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
Similar to the 2017 elections, the electoral body will use both electronic and manual techniques to transmit results.
Form 34s, however, will be crucial under both systems.
Flow of Presidential Results Forms
IEBC indicated that the presidential election results declared at the polling station will be filled in Form 34A, which will be then transmitted to the Constituency Tallying Centre by the Presiding Officer after votes have been counted and verified by all agents.
At the Constituency Tally Center, the results from the polling station in a particular constituency will be tallied and filled into Form 34B.
Upon completion, the Constituency Returning Officer will submit the form to the National Tallying Centre where the Presidential Returning Officer – IEBC Wafula Chebukati, will tally the results to Form 34C and Form 34D before announcing the president-elect.
Electronic Result Transmission
For electronic result transmission, the electoral body will use the Result Transmission System (RTS).
“At the end of voting and when votes have been counted and tallied, the Presiding Officers (POs) enter the data on the signed results sheet into specially configured mobile phones and transmit the results simultaneous to the election results centres at the constituency, county and national level,” IEBC stated.
As per the RTS system, electronic results from the polling station will be channeled to a back-end system. The results will then be processed and displayed in the public portal.
Kenyans wishing to access the results will be able to follow real-time transmission of results by visiting the public portal whose details will be made public in the coming weeks.
However, revelations of a back-end system to process the data raised eyebrows among a section of Kenyans who question the role of the back-end system.
In response, IEBC insisted that it was standard procedure even as it refuted concerns on results manipulation.
“Results at the polling station are final, media and agents will have access to results announced at the polling station, the ‘Backroom’ is a receiver of the transmitted data enroute to the Tallying Center.
“This is similar to the way SMS goes through your mobile service provider before being delivered to the intended recipient,” the Commission stated.
In regard to result transmission by the media, the electoral body and media agencies signed an agreement on guidelines for result transmission.
It was agreed that the media will have access to all election results even as a committee was formed to develop a framework through which all media houses will work in conjunction to air results.
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