It has now emerged that some of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries (IEBC) commission polling stations that the Supreme court ordered to be scrutinized do not exist.
According to Azimio insiders, most of those polling stations were not even gazetted but they had presidential results after voting came to an end on ninth.
Besides, Raila’s team believe that these ghost polling stations contributed significantly to the variance in presidential votes compared to those of the governors, senators, members of parliament, woman representatives and members of the county assembly.
The supreme court on Tuesday gave a directive that some 15 polling stations to be scrutinized. They included the following:
- Nandi Hills, Tinderet CONMO, and Sindendeti Primary School in Nandi county,
- Belgut, Kapsuser and Chepkutum primary schools in Kericho county,
- Jomvi, Mikindani and Ministry of Water Tanks, Mvita, Majengo and Mvita Primary School in Mombasa
- Jarok, Gathanji and Kiheo Primary School Polling in Nyandarua County.
By scrutiny, the supreme court meant that all the presidential ballot boxes be opened and recounting be done. The IEBC while gazetting the polling stations serialized them, implying that all the polling stations must be in the IEBC database. On their side, Azimio insiders have revealed that most of the polling stations ordered for scrutiny are not even in the IEBC database to date.
Another hurdle that the IEBC will have to overcome is the fact that the ballot boxes in the said polling stations will have to correspond and tally with the KIEMS kit allocated to them.
In their 2022 petition, Raila Odinga is seeking to understand why there is a variance of more than a million votes between the presidential votes and those cast for other positions. Consequently, he wants the IEBC to explain and account for the difference.
In 2017, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission lawyers had a difficult time at the Supreme court after the National Super Alliance (NASA) premised their case on the variance of presidential votes. The lawyers could not explain why presidential votes were abnormally excess compared to the other positions. The difference eventually contributed to the nullification of president Uhuru’s win.
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