IEBC Commissioner Prof. Abdi Guliye has claimed that IEBC vice chairperson Julian Cherera wanted Ruto’s votes to be deducted leading to re-run.
In an affidavit tabled at the Supreme Court on Saturday, Guliye alleged that Cherera wanted 233,211 votes to be deducted from Ruto so that neither of the 4 presidential candidates could attain a 50% plus 1 threshold.
“Commissioners Masit and Wanderi were of the view that the results should be pushed towards a re-run, which in their view would be a ‘win-win’ situation to which I exclaimed “how?”. Vice Chair Cherera suggested that the margin is not too big and could be manipulated by moving 233,211 votes from Hon Ruto to the rejected ballots category,” stated Guliye.
“Having heard the views of all the Commissioners, the Chairman indicated that he would not discuss subversion of the will of the people and that he would announce and declare the final results in accordance with the verified tallies.” he added.
He also highlighted an earlier meeting between the IEBC commissioners and a group from the National Security Advisory Committee (NSAC), which purportedly urged them to either declare Raila Odinga the victor of the presidential election or assure a runoff.
According to Guliye, four commissioners led by Vice Chair Cherera supported the NSAC team’s decision, whilst he and Chebulati opposed it.
Guliye further mentioned why the commission did not announce the results of 27 constituencies which were remaining.
” I was to announce the results of the remaining 27 constituencies before the Chairman could make the final declaration. The results of those constituencies had already been verified in the presence of agents of the candidates and included in the final tally in Form 34C,”
“Before I could read the results from the remaining Constituencies, some fracas ensued. In the circumstances, I would not be able to announce the results of the remaining 27 results and neither would the Chairman be able to declare the final results. We went back to the holding room. I was injured in the melee. When calm was restored, the Chairman declared the final results in the midst of chaos” he stated.
