Kenya 'election management system is secure' - IEBC replies opposition

Kenya

Kenya’s elections body, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) says its election management system was secured, dispelling opposition rumours that it had been hacked and results manipulated in favor of the incumbent.

Speaking at a press briefing on Wednesday evening – nearly 24 hours after the vote, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the IEBC, Ezra Chiloba, said at no point was the system hacked.

‘‘Our election management system is secure. We confirm there were no interferences before, during and after the polling exercise. The RTS remains a secure asset for the people of Kenya and we have maintained the integrity of the system,’‘ he said.

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Our election management system is secure. We confirm there were no interferences before, during and after the polling exercise

— IEBC (@IEBCKenya) August 9, 2017

Chiloba reiterated the commission’s notice that final results will not be announced tonight despite having received results from 96% of polling stations.

‘‘As of 6.45 pm this evening, we had 96% of polling stations reporting to us – about 1,300 polling stations are yet to report. We have received 29,000 polling station result form 34As and have uploaded 10,921 such files on the public portal,’‘ he added.

The IEBC’s position is a direct response to claims by opposition chief, Raila Odinga who on Wednesday morning claimed that the polls had been compromised technically. Head of IEBC, Wafula Chebukati responded by saying a probe was going to be instituted.

Odinga has, since Tuesday evening when results started coming in, been trailing incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta according to figures on the electoral body’s live portal. The gap of over a million votes means that Uhuru has all but secured a second straight term in office.

The latest results from the IEBC’s portal are as follows: