Court Upholds National Tallying of Presidential Results Ahead of 2027

By Cynthia Kituku

The court has upheld the requirement for national aggregation and verification of presidential election results, rejecting a challenge seeking to bar the IEBC from re-tallying or re-verifying results after they are announced by constituency returning officers.

The judges said national aggregation is necessary because presidential candidates must secure more than 50 per cent of votes cast nationally and at least 25 per cent of votes in more than half of Kenya’s counties under Article 138(4) of the Constitution. They ruled that this threshold cannot be verified at constituency or county level alone.

The court also ruled that where discrepancies arise between electronically transmitted results and physical results from polling stations, the results verified and declared at the respective polling station should prevail. However, it declined to invalidate Sections 39(1C) and 39(1G) of the Elections Act and Regulation 83 in their entirety, while dismissing several other constitutional claims for lacking sufficient evidence of an actual or imminent violation.

Ahead of the 2027 General Election, the judges urged Parliament to consider reforms to electoral laws. Referring to philosopher John Rawls’ “veil of ignorance,” the court said lawmakers should develop neutral electoral rules without knowing who would benefit from them, so that election laws serve the broader interests of Kenyans rather than short-term political interests.