Thursday, August 10, 2017

Uhuru or Raila? IEBC to Announce President Tomorrow
Aug. 10, 2017, 3:00 pm
By PATRICK VIDIJA @vidijapatrick and LUKE AWICH
Kenya Star

 A combination picture of President Uhuru Kenyatta and Opposition leader Raila Odinga voting on August 8, 2017. /REUTERS

IEBC will announce final results from the presidential race on Friday, chairman Wafula Chebukati has said.

Chebukati said they are in the final stretch of the tallying process and hope to conclude the 290 constituencies.

This will be followed by declaration of the winner.

President Uhuru Kenyatta is currently leading with 8,092,579 votes against Opposition leader Raila Odinga who has 6,690,279 votes in 40,099 out of 40,883 polling stations at 3.27pm.

"We have called all the returning officers to ensure all forms 34A and 34B are here latest 12pm tomorrow. We will validate the forms and make the announcement soon thereafter," Chebukati told the press at Bomas of Kenya on Thursday.

He said so far 1,032 polling stations out of the 40,883 are yet to submit the results.

Chebukati said out of the 290 forms 34B, the commission has so far received 117 and confirmation and validation currently in progress.

"The commission has done its best to ensure a credible election. We hope to announce the presidential results within the shortest time possible," he said.

The chairman maintained that all the servers are intact and the data safe after Raila alleged that the late Chris Msando's login was used to compromise results.

Chebukati said there were reported hackers who tried to access the system but that they did not succeed.

"The electoral process has been free, fair and peaceful. We welcome all the concerns raised by observer groups and assure all Kenyans we shall deliver on our mandate," he said.

The IEBC boss asked political parties and agents to be patient as the commission works round the clock to address their concerns.

"We wish to tell all the parties to exercise refrain from making statements that will cause tension across the country," he said.

He said that so far, two per cent of all the counted votes are rejected but the commission will narrow down to establish why more than 300,000 votes were rejected.

CEO Ezra Chiloba said the commission has invited 2,000 guests to witness the announcement of the presidential results at Bomas of Kenya.

Election observers from EAC, AU and EU have been positive about the general election, saying it was free and credible.

But they asked IEBC to look into hacking claims.

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