Wednesday, August 4, 2010

4,000 to monitor vote tallying

An estimated 4,000 people are expected to witness the national vote tallying at the Bomas of Kenya when the referendum poll closes this evening.

A government team comprising officers from the President’s and the Prime Minister’s Office, plus permanent secretaries have reserved seats in the hut-shaped auditorium that will be the centre of focus when the vote-count starts trickling in from the 27,689 polling stations across the country.

The move to have as many people in the national tallying centre is part of the IIEC’s attempt at transparency in the tallying process.

A perceived doctoring of results at the national tallying centre in the last General Election was the spark that ignited a two-month long political crisis characterised by ethnic bloodletting and massive violence across the country, at the end of which 1,300 people were left dead and over 660,000 displaced.

President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga have been on the forefront of the Yes campaign and for now, it is clear their representatives will be around to celebrate a victory if most Kenyans vote for the proposed constitution. However, if the No team wins, then the IIEC will be assured that all will be present to witness that the vote was transparent.

It is not clear if the two will attend the event that is expected to continue late into the night.

The Interim Independent Electoral Commission is also expecting commissioners from the other ‘Agenda 4’ Commissions –the National Cohesion and Integration Commission, the Committee of Experts, the Interim Independent Boundary Review Commission and the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission at Bomas.

MPs, national agents, political party representatives, and diplomats are also invited. Representatives of international organizations are also expected to attend the tallying process.

Representatives of the private sector, national and international observers and journalists are also expected to attend the vote-tallying exercise.

The public will also be represented as there are an estimated 100 seats reserved. However, it is unclear how those to attend the meeting will be vetted given that anyone getting into Bomas is thoroughly vetted. Police officers have thronged the venue.

The IIEC continues to hold its daily briefings at Bomas to keep the country abreast of the voting process. One is scheduled at 11 this morning.

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