Several international observation missions are deployed: EU, IGAD, Commonwealth. But the main observation platform comes from Kenyan civil society: theElectoral Observation Group (ELOG). Its teams are preparing to observe the regularity of the vote, in particular via an independent results compilation system, parallel to that of the IEBC, the Kenyan electoral commission.
With our correspondent in Nairobi, Florence Morice
About forty young Kenyans are busy on their keyboards. They perform an election day simulation. Their role: to compile the information sent by the 1,200 observers on the ground, concerning the conduct of the vote and the results. ” Our observers will note on a questionnaire the official results which will be announced in their polling station and send them to us, explains Azarius Karanja, one of the supervisors of the operation. At the same time, they also send us a photo of the results report. If what is in the questionnaire and in the report coincides, then that means that we have a coherent result. “.
For this parallel count, ELOG selected a sample of 1,000 polling stations deemed representative out of the 46,000 in the country. Objective: to be able to verify the integrity of the results that will be announced. ” This will allow us to obtain a projection of the results of the election, indicates Mulle Musau, the national coordinator of this observation platform. To determine a range within which the official results of the electoral commission should fall. We will wait for the commission to publish its own results, and then we can release the information from our parallel count. »
The observers play an all the more important role this year as, as the election approaches, the supporters of the two main candidates accuse each other of preparing for fraud, via messages widely relayed on social networks. A dangerous escalation of misinformation that risks discrediting the results that will be announced by the commission.
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