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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 NAIROBI 000009 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KDEM KPAO PGOV PREL KE
SUBJECT: KENYA ELECTIONS: KENYAN DOMESTIC OBSERVERS FORUM PRESS 
RELEASE 
 
 
The Kenyan Domestic Observers Forum (KEDOF) issued the following 
press release on December 31, 2007. 
 
Begin text: 
 
PRELIMINARY PRESS STATEMENT AND VERDICT OF 2007 KENYA'S GENERAL 
ELECTIONS 
We the partners of KEDOF would like to issue the following press 
statement on the just ended Kenya's general elections of2007. 
This is a preliminary press statement and verdict by KEDOF, a 
comprehensive will be issued in due course. The statement covers the 
following seven areas 
¶1. Deployment 
¶2. Polling 
¶3. Counting 
¶4. Tallying at constituency centers 
¶5. Announcement of results 
¶6. Delivery of Constituency results by Returning Officers to the ECK 
Headquarters at  KICC 
¶7. National tallying of Presidential Results from all the 210 
constituencies 
 
Deployment 
---------- 
 
In October 2007, KEDOF trained and appointed 13 Regional 
Coordinators covering all regions of the country.' Later, they 
trained and deployed 454 constituency observers to cover the 210 
constituencies. The Regional Coordinators and Constituency Observers 
collected information based on their observations during the party 
nominations, campaign rallies and other pre,election events. 
 
KEDOF also recruited almost 17,000 election-day observers for the 
27,700 polling stations spread across the country. The deployment of 
these observers covered as many of the over 20,000 polling centers, 
taking into account criteria based on possible hotspots and other 
sensitive areas. 
 
The 454 constituency observers trained the election-day observers 
before deployment. A 24 page checklist report covered all critical 
aspects of observations for the election-day. 
 
Specially trained teams of personnel analyzed the data that formed 
the basis for our preliminary statement. 
 
Polling 
------- 
 
On polling we observed the following: 
¶1. There a high voter 'turn-out in almost all constituencies in 
Kenya ranging from 54% to 98 % in some constituencies. 
¶2. Peaceful and orderly conduct of polling in most polling stations 
 
Most polling stations were managed professionally by the ECK. All 
polling stations were clearly marked and demarcated and were easily 
accessible by voters, observers, agents and others who were supposed 
to be in polling stations. 
 
Voters were patient, peaceful and remained in the queues until they 
voted in almost all the polling stations 
 
Challenges included delays in opening of some polling stations and 
in commencing the voting process 
 
There was confusion in some polling stations resulting from the 
splitting of voters registers based on alphabetical order 
 
There was swapping and misplacement of ballot papers 
Nairobi/Changamwe and Bura/Budalangi 
 
Counting at Polling Stations 
---------------------------- 
 
The law provides that counting be carried out at polling stations. 
The results are recorded on statutory forms and'results must be 
posted conspicuously at the polling stations for all to see. The 
statutory forms must be signed by the Presiding Officers and party 
agents. We observed the following: 
 
In most polling stations the counting went on well and was conducted 
in accordance with the law; 
 
 
NAIROBI 00000009  002 OF 003 
 
 
Counting was peaceful and orderly in most polling stations; 
 
In most polling stations all party agents present and observers and 
other stakeholders were allowed access; 
 
However, in many polling stations the statutory forms - 16A and 17A 
were not countersigned by all party agents for example in most 
constituencies in Central, Nyanza and Central parts of the Eastern 
Provinces; 
 
In some polling stations agents were either sent out or left out of 
fear, mostly in Central, Nyanza and central parts of Eastern 
Provinces; 
 
In most polling stations the counting was slow resulting in anxiety 
and delays in transmitting results to constituency tallying centers. 
 
Tallying at Constituency centers 
-------------------------------- 
 
Tallying at constituency centers is conducted by the Returning 
Officers, relying on forms submitted to him or her by the presiding 
officers (pos) from all the polling stations. The ROs declares the 
results of the Civic and Parliamentary elections at Constituency 
centers. The results of Presidential, Parliamentary and Civic are 
announced and recorded by the, ROs in statutory forms and s/he also 
addresses the any serious objections or rejections relating to 
counting at polling stations. 
 
Following our preliminary analysis we make the following 
observations: 
 
Inordinate delays in the transmission of results from the polling 
stations resulting in anxiety; 
 
There were significant cases of unsigned statutory forms and many 
results were relayed in photocopies. 
 
Announcement of Results 
----------------------- 
 
The announcement of results is made at three levels: 
 
¶1. At polling stations 
¶2. Tallying centers at the Constituency levels 
¶3. ECK Headquarters, which was at the KICC 
 
The following are our observations: 
 
The announcement of results at the polling stations was conducted in 
accordance with the law; 
 
In some constituencies the results of the presidential elections 
were much higher than of Parliamentary and Civic elections results; 
 
In some constituencies the Parliamentary and Civic elections results 
were announced earlier than the Presidential results resulting in 
suspicion and intense anxiety; 
 
In some constituencies the ECK reported that they were unable to 
reach the ROs by phone and could not trace them. 
 
Delivery of constituency results by the ROs to ECK 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
The RO has power to declare constituency results in respect of 
parliamentary and local authority elections at the constituency 
level. For the presidential elections, the RO must deliver physical 
copies of the statutory declarations. The RO is not empowered t9 
vary results declared at the tallying level. In addition, for this 
years general election, the ECK instituted further improvement and 
safeguards by providing tamper-proof bags for storage of the polling 
material on transit. 
 
We observed the following: 
 
While returns from most constituencies were made within reasonable 
time, and delivered in good order, the delays from certain regions 
raised questions of integrity of the process; 
 
While ECK provided mobile phones and adequate airtime, including 
satellite telephone for remote areas, it is surprising that, as the 
 
NAIROBI 00000009  003 OF 003 
 
 
ECK Chairman admitted, returning officers not only failed to 
communicate but indeed rendered themselves unreachable; 
 
Acceptance of the results submitted irregularly (i.e. by way of 
photocopies of statutory" forms instead of the original ones) by the 
Commission raised questions. 
 
National re-tallying 
-------------------- 
 
The national re-tallying and announcement exercise was 
characterized by . Suspicions and disputations (sic) toward "the 
end. Consequently, the ECK invited political party agents (two from 
each party) and five observers (two from KEDOF) to observe ,the 
re-tallying of votes as demanded by party agents. We noted the 
following' during this process: 
 
Disparities between results released by ECK and the results 
announced by returning officers in some regions including Central 
and Central Eastern, Rift Valley, overstatement of results in some 
constituencies; 
 
Reduction or suppression of results in an indicant number of 
constituencies, 
illegal replacement of the authentic Form 16A by photocopies raising 
the question of authenticity of the results; 
 
In our view there were high possibilities of manipulation of results 
in all instances where photocopies were used in place of original 
forms. 
 
This is more so in all such cases either the forms have been clearly 
filled in by the same individual from all political parties while in 
some cases the names of the agents are missing. TIlls problem was 
also witnessed in the cases of other statutory forms such as Form 17 
A; 
 
When the final presidential results were announced by the 
Commission, party agents and journalists were evicted from the 
centre 
 
Conclusion 
---------- 
 
Whereas the General Elections of 2007 were conducted openly, fairly 
and professionally. from preparation and deployment of materials and 
personnel to all polling stations across the country to the polling 
centers, and whereas the polling day went peacefully in that voters 
were largely able to vote freely according to their choices, the 
handling of the results of the polling and the rest of the process 
thereafter, in our opinion, were questionable; 
 
There are significant discrepancies in files released by the 
tallying centers and those by ECK at KICC, which make the concerns 
of agents of some of the presidential candidates legitimate; 
 
Key officers of the ECK notably presiding officers, their deputies 
and in some cases the returning officers conducted themselves in a 
manner that was questionable. For instance, there were cases of 
presiding officers and their deputy presiding officers disappearing 
with the returns; 
 
The delay in announcing the outcomes led to heightened fear, 
insecurity and anger in Kenya 
 
In our view considering the entire electoral process, the 2007 
General Elections were credible in as far as the voting and counting 
process is concerned. The electoral process lost credibility towards 
the end with regard to the tallying and announcement of presidential 
results. 
 
Signed by the KEDOF co-chairs 
 
OLIVER KISAKA 
MORRIS ODHIAMBO 
KOKI MULI 
 
End text. 
 
RANNEBERGER