Chebukati defends voter turnout tweet

Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairman Wafula Chebukati has now said that his team is working on the exact figure of the voter turnout after questions were raised on figures he had released on his official Twitter handle earlier.

On Thursday, the IEBC boss said through his official twitter handle that the actual figures that 6,553,858 Kenyans had turned out to vote in 267 constituencies after earlier on placing the voter turnout at 48%.

“The 48% was a BEST estimate turnout from the team. Latest actual figures from 267 constituencies show 6,553,858 Kenyans turned out to vote,” he tweeted.

However, Chebukati has promised to relay the accurate figures once his team is done tallying.

“As of the time the tweet of 6.5 [million] went out, the forms were way much lesser than the ones we have at the moment,” Chebukati said.

Addressing the media from Bomas of Kenya, Chebukati on Saturday said that he will give directions on Sunday, October 29, on what will happen in counties where voting failed to take place.

The electoral commission had postponed the repeat presidential election in Kisumu, Homa Bay, Siaya and Migori Counties to Saturday, October 28, citing security-related challenges.

He further reported that only 250 constituencies have transmitted Forms 34B and 41 constituencies are yet to transmit their results. On Forms 34A, only 37,161 forms have been received with 3,722 forms remaining.