The National Assembly has passed proposed changes to the election law that would require the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to electronically transmit presidential election results within two hours of their declaration at polling stations.
The changes are contained in the Elections (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill, 2024, which sets new requirements for the handling, transmission and publication of election results ahead of the 2027 General Election.
Under the Bill, the IEBC would be required to send the results to constituency and national tallying centres, candidates or their agents, and election observers within the two-hour window.
If the commission fails to meet the deadline, it would have to give reasons in a prescribed format explaining the delay.
Furthermore, this bill also calls for the publication by the electoral commission of the polling station result forms through its website and the verification of the data with the results declared at the respective polling station.
The Bill also eliminates the provision in the current Act for the live streaming of the declaration of the results at the polling stations, which might invite some criticism regarding how the public is to monitor this procedure.
Still, candidates and their agents, together with other observers of the election, will be permitted to record the tallying and declaration of results at polling stations and tallying centers.
The commission will also be expected to physically convey the tallied results to the tallying centers at the constituency and national level along with the electronic transmission of the figures.
The Bill, however, does not set out specific provisions for handling discrepancies between electronically transmitted results and the physical documents delivered to tallying centres. It also leaves out clear consequences for failure to transmit or publish results electronically.
Under the proposed changes, presidential election results would be tallied and declared before results for other elective positions.
The Bill further allows the IEBC chairperson to declare a presidential winner before results from all constituencies have been received, provided the outstanding figures cannot change the outcome of the election.
Beyond the transmission of results, the legislation proposes changes to voter and candidate registration, election technology, political party nominations and the resolution of election disputes.
It also provides for public access to information about the election technology used by the IEBC. Information requested for the scrutiny of presidential election results would have to be provided within three days.
The proposed law places intellectual property rights over election technology under the IEBC and restricts procurement from suppliers found guilty of procurement violations or criminal offences.
Another change removes the degree requirement for candidates seeking election as Members of Parliament and members of county assemblies.
The Bill now awaits presidential assent. A date for its signing has not yet been scheduled.