IEBC Chair Chebukati Explains The Difference In Presidential Results Across Media Houses

Kenyans should not be concerned about the various Presidential outcomes that have been reported by media outlets, according to Wafula Chebukati, the chairman of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

On Thursday at noon, Chebukati gave a press conference in the Bomas of Kenya, stating that the workflow of various media outlets determines the variation in the results reported.

“The tallies across the media houses vary, and we appreciate that this may be so because each media house is accessing the public portal of the results forms at different times and each is using its own criteria and sequencing among other factors – including perhaps different amounts of resources deployed,” Chebukati explained.

The IEBC boss further assured Kenyans that all media houses will have similar results when the Presidential tallying reaches its end, since their data is from a central place.

“The final announcement and declaration of the results will be done by the National Returning Ofiicer (Chebukati) here at Bomas. At the end of the tallying they will be harmonized and will look similar because the results are from the same source. There should be no panic about the difference we are seeing on the media screens,” he said.

Chebukati added that the Kenya Media Sector Working Group sought IEBC’s permission to share the data on election results.

“In the spirit of transparency, the commission gave media access to polling stations, tallying centres and the results portal to report the progress of the elections results in real-time from one source,” he said.

“The media houses opted to do it independently, which was a decision beyond the commission’s control.”
The various tallies shown on TV screens and the websites of local media businesses had been causing alarm among Kenyans.

Some Kenyans claimed that the media was skewed in favor of some candidates.