The long-awaited moment for Kenyans is likely to end today as the Independent, Electoral, and Boundaries Commission is set to declare the winner of the 2022 presidential election.
According to the commission, the exercise of verifying and validating election results from 290 constituencies is now complete which is a clear indication that it’s ready to announce the winner today.
In 2017 the supreme court directed IEBC to live-stream the presidential election results as transmitted to the national tallying center which has been the case since 9th August.
Results from forms 34A, which contain presidential election results were transmitted from the 46,229 polling stations countrywide on the commission’s live web portal as of the night of 9th August.
The commission was also directed to verify results and validate the election outcome in seven days from the date of elections hence the commission only has today and tomorrow to deliver the results.
The winner has to achieve 50 percent plus one of the cast votes and at least 25 percent of votes cast in at least 24 counties, to be announced as the outright winner.
If not, voters will have to go back to the ballot as IEBC will have to organize a run-off within 30 days. In a run-off election, the candidate with a simple majority will be declared the winner.
Kenyans are anxious to know who will be the next head of state since they cast their votes last week, the situation has been escalating due to different updates from social media declaring the winner.
However, only Chebukati, the presidential election returning officer, has the power to declare a winner.
Meanwhile, the National Cohesion and Integration Commission has called on the candidates that will win the election to reach out to the opponents for peace.
Addressing the press on Monday, NCIC chairman Samuel Kobia said the election was peaceful, noting that the winner and loser should forge a way of working together.