2027 poll fight: Maraga-led lobby accuses Parliament of weakening electoral safeguards

By  Kevin Cheruiyot

Correspondent

The People's Coalition on Electoral Reforms has declared a state of national electoral integrity vigilance for the next 288 days, warning that the country was sleepwalking into a ‘catastrophic rigging’ of the August 2027 General Election.

The lobby group led by Chief Justice Emeritus David Maraga addressed the Elections (Amendment) Bill, which was returned to the Senate for changes to Section 39 of the Election Act, governing the determination and declaration of election results.

According to the coalition, the recent amendment proposed by Kericho Senator and Senate Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot does not address the pertinent issue of live-streaming of elections.

Mr Maraga and his team said that although they support some of the amendments to the bill, Section 39 of the Elections Act, which led to the presidential results being nullified in the 2017 general election, has not been included in the bill.

“Should we get anything short of these proposed amendments over the next 288 days, Kenyans should be alive to the painful truth, that President Ruto with the AID of Parliament, with the ACQUISCENCE of the IEBC is planning to rig the 2027 General Elections, BUT they MUST be stopped. We cannot wait, we should not wait for him to rig. Anything that we must do now to stop him from rigging, we must start doing,” Mr Maraga said.

This, according to them, raises questions about the intention to hold free, fair and credible elections.

Despite an explainer issued on Friday by Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wa, stating that Parliament had deleted Clause 22 of the Bill which proposed repealing and recasting Section 39 of the Elections Act, thereby retaining the existing legal provision requiring the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to establish a mechanism for live streaming results announced at polling stations, the coalition dismissed this as a total hoodwink to Kenyans, since live streaming is not currently provided for in the Constitution.

They claimed that the net effect of retention is the infringement on the constitutional principles of transparency, impartiality, neutrality, efficiency, accuracy and accountability by the said sections of the Elections Act.

“What Parliament did last week, which is among the reasons why we are making this statement, is that it dropped the entire section 39 amendment as was before it. It means that in our Elections Act now, still exists that section 39, parts of which had been declared unconstitutional by both the High Court and affirmed by the Court of Appeal in the Maina Kiai Case. The net effect of the law as passed last week by Parliament is that the country is back to square zero. The status remains as directed in the Maina Kiai decision, that Section 39 requires amendments that give the Constitutional effect as interpreted by the Court of Appeal,” part of the statement reads.

According to Mr Maraga, the reform group has drafted proposed electoral amendments electoral reforms which seeks to ensure that results are being streamed every hour which must be in concurrent with the results being announced at the polling stations.

“Our purpose for seeking live transmission is to make it transparent. What we are seeking is not only to live stream but to bring in the voter turnout hour after hour continually. We don’t want to wait until almost 6 pm to be told that the voter turnout is this percentage yet that turnout is rigged turnout,” Mr Maraga said, reiterating that live streaming of results is a fundamental aspect that Kenyans should have ahead of the 2027 general elections.

In their outcry, the group said that the amendments which they had submitted for consideration were not discussed, and that the country is headed to an election with part of Section 39 of the Elections Act being unconstitutional, which could be rectified through an amendment.

Saboti, Member of Parliament and People’s Renaissance Movement (PRM) party leader, Caleb Amisi, said that the timing of the amendment is a matter of concern that the country should not keep silent about.

“Section 39(2) of the Elections Act was declared unconstitutional even before the last election. Between the last election and today, which is less than a year to the next election, what was the Parliament doing? That is the first mischief. The second mischief is that the amendment before the Parliament was expunged. Parliament expunged Section 39(2) to avoid debate and avoid the new amendments that were coming in,” Mr Amisi said.

The team said that the last elections were not live-streamed due to the section of the Elections Act that was declared unconstitutional and hence has to be urgently considered by Parliament.

Part of the amendment proposed by the People’s Coalition on Electoral Reforms to Section 39 of the Elections Act pushes for absolute polling station finality.

“Votes must be counted, declared, and published immediately at the polling station. The figures recorded at the primary level are legally untouchable and cannot be filtered or reviewed by anyone save for an elections court.”

They also captured the aspect of mandatory hourly live-streaming of voter turnout, where the Presiding Officers must electronically transmit actual voter turnout data every single hour on election day.

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