Supreme Court orders poll recount for 22 centres

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The panel of six judges have until Saturday to decide whether Kenyatta should be confirmed as Kenya’s new president or whether new elections should take place/CFM

NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 25 – The Supreme Court on Monday ordered a recount of votes cast at 22 polling stations during the March 4 General Election.

According to the court, re-tallying is meant to ascertain if the number of votes cast exceeds the number of registered voters in the respective stations.

The court also ordered the scrutiny of all forms 34 and 36 used by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) in tallying the presidential election results.

“Re-tallying is to be done in 22 polling stations to verify the numbers of votes cast, valid votes and rejected votes,” said Supreme Court Judge Smokin Wanjala.

“On forms 36 the scrutiny will be aimed at ascertaining accuracy of transfer from forms 34 comparing the numbers on both forms,” the judge added.

Forms 34 contain results as recorded at each polling station while forms 36 contain aggregated results from forms 34.

Among the areas listed for re-tallying is the Don Bosco Primary School, St Andrews Primary School, Nairibi, Sango Primary School and the NCC Social Hall.

Both the petitioners and respondents have been ordered to appoint 10 agents each, to act as observers in the process.

The Registrar of the Supreme Court is expected to administer the oath of secrecy and confidentiality to all those who will be involved in the process.

The results are expected to be filed with the Supreme Court by 4pm on Wednesday.

Official election results showed president-elect Uhuru Kenyatta won 50.07 percent of the vote, approximately 800,000 votes ahead of his closest rival, Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

The court also ordered IEBC to provide the voter registration list it used in the tally of the presidential vote after an electronic system failed.

“We order the IEBC to provide the principal voter register in its entirety,” said Judge Njoki Ndung’u.

The court has also issued proposed timelines for the hearings which are expected to commence on Wednesday and close on Thursday.

In petition three and four, the parties have been allocated 54 minutes each while petition five – the one filed by Odinga – was allocated two hours and six minutes.

Respondents in all the three petitions have also been awarded time, similar to that awarded to the respective petitioners.

The respondents and petitioners objected to the time allocations insisting that they needed more time although the court insisted that the hearings will last 15 hours.

The court is expected to issue a conclusive statement on the time allocations on Tuesday when the parties meet for the last day of the pre-trial conference.

Already, arrangements are in place to fit the court with another stopwatch to help regulate the times that each participant is allocated.

“We have little time and it will be up to you to decide how to use your time; one thing that will not change is the time we have allocated for the hearing,” urged Justice Njoki Ndung’u.