Junet Speaks on ODM's Stance on Bill Blocking Live Transmission of Election Results

National Assembly Majority Leader Amos Kimunya on February 2, 2022, tabled the Elections (Amendment) Bill 2022 before parliament which caused uproar among politicians and members of the public.

Suna East Member of Parliament Junet Mohamed has since issued ODM's stance on the bill which seeks to block the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) from transmitting live polling station results on an online portal.

In a tweet on the night of Thursday, February 3, Junet noted that the country has come a long way in adopting the electronic system and it would be a disgrace to take Kenya back to the manual system.

The National Assembly minority whip argued that the manual system can be easily manipulated and therefore interfere with the credibility of the results.

“We are not supporting the elections amendment bill that is taking us back to manual system of tallying which is open to manipulation and errors. The country has invested heavily in electronic system. We can only improve on it but not revert to manual,” he tweeted.

If passed, it would mean that results can only be broadcasted after IEBC verifies and documents the tallied votes.

The law will require presiding officers to transmit results at every polling station to the Returning Officer based in their region of jurisdiction.

Returning Officers are then required to collate results from their region to the National Tallying Centre.

The new law will also require physical forms to be delivered at the National Tallying Centre by the Individual Returning Officers for verification and reconciliation.

The bill has since faced opposition from a section of politicians and members of the public.

"On this one, I fully support HNIB chief Itumbi. I am in Azimio but can't tolerate legislation meant to erode our technological advances on poll results transmission. All we need is to improve the system to prevent technological rigging. Let's not take Kenya to Kivuitu moment," Abuga Makori stated.

“This Bill is mischievous. If they are for a credible, transparent process, why shut out the media from streaming live the presidential election results. We are not for this,” Belgut MP Nelson Koech stated.

Soy MP Caleb Kositany, on his part, vowed to rally UDA troops to vote against the Bill, or seek legal redress in case it sails through.

“I am smelling a rat. These people want to rig elections. We will not allow the media and other online channels to be shut out in the live streaming of the presidential election results,” said Kositany.