Polls team denies rigging election in Uhuru’s favour

IEBC chairman Issak Hassan. Photo/FILE  NATION MEDIA GROUP

By PAUL OGEMBA pogemba@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Saturday, March 23  2013 at  00:30

The electoral commission has denied claims by Prime Minister Raila Odinga that it rigged the top seat poll in favour of Mr Uhuru Kenyatta.

In its response to Mr Odinga’s petition challenging the results at the Supreme Court, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) maintains that the election was free and fair, and that it did not commit any electoral offence to warrant cancellation of the outcome.

“The electoral process was valid and a valid declaration of the presidential outcome made. By no stretch of imagination was it fundamentally and irreparably flawed nor was it unconstitutionally conducted in breach of elections laws,” reads the response.

IEBC argues that Mr Odinga has not advanced any legal basis to warrant setting aside of the results or the subsequent declaration of Mr Kenyatta and Mr William Ruto as president-elect and deputy president-elect, respectively.

It avers that the results of Mr Odinga’s petition will be a nullification of the whole electoral process, which the commission claims does not fall within the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.

It submits that it put in place a proper framework to ensure free, fair and credible elections as confirmed by the reports of various local and international observers.

“Whereas the events of 2007 provide a necessary backdrop in interrogating the conduct of 2013 elections, the factual and legal matrix of 2013 is by no stretch of imagination comparable to 2007 elections. The only common denominator is the petitioner who has disputed both results,” it says.

In response to Mr Odinga’s contention over the failure of electronic results transmission system, the poll agency says it did not abandon the process and denies allegations that the system was ‘poorly selected, implemented and designed to fail.’

It holds that it did not breach Kenyans’ right to legitimate expectation since the integrity of the electoral process was neither violated, compromised nor rendered ineffective.

“With the challenges faced with the electronic systems, we tried to maintain a manual system which was not opposed by the parties. The commission held a consultative meeting with party agents at Bomas and all agreed on the modes of verification,” it says.

In any event, it maintains that the law gives it the authority to use manual system as the primary basis of transmitting results, and that the use of electronic system was only to promote transparency but not a legal requirement.

On the PM’s claim that the commission inflated the final voter register, IEBC says it only allowed 12 voters from Soi constituency who were mistakenly registered using training electronic register and an additional 31,318 voters whose biometric details were not captured during the voter registration.

The response was drawn and filed by lawyer Paul Nyamodi on behalf of a team of seven other lawyers. The Supreme Court is expected to sit on Monday for a pre-trial conference.

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