The contention whether or not rejected and spoilt votes should have been factored in, during computation of the 50 per cent plus one threshold for winning a presidential election is yet again expected to feature in the 2017 presidential election petition. In its 14-point relief pleadings, the National Super Alliance (NASA) is seeking to convince the Supreme Court bench to review a precedence set in the 2013 presidential election petition where the court decided that rejected votes ought not to be included in calculating tallies in favour of any candidate. NASA has also lined up a series of affidavits among them those filed by election officials, its presidential agents and technology experts, all poking holes on crucial election processes which the alliance argues compromised the credibility of the August 8 General Election.
A cyber security expert identified as Apprielle Oichoe, for instance, argues in a four-page affidavit that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) failed to secure its electronic data, an observation supporting NASA’s prayers to have IEBC servers subjected to an audit.
“Section 55 A of the Elections as read with section 44 (B) (5) contemplates privacy and security of data. If it is proved as is being posited in the petition that IEBC failed to secure its data and public maintained portal then there would be the need and a justification for an audit of all systems of IEBC,” Oichoe states in her affidavit.
Full Article: Kenya: Spoilt Votes, Insecure Systems Among Issues in Nasa Petition – allAfrica.com.