Deputy Speaker Shollei: Parliament did not scrap election results livestreaming

National Assembly Deputy Speaker Gladys Boss Shollei has defended Parliament’s handling of proposed electoral bill amendments, insisting that lawmakers did not remove the legal requirement for livestreaming election results ahead of the 2027 General Election.

Speaking on Radio Generation on Wednesday, the Uasin Gishu Woman Representative said the National Assembly deleted a contentious clause in the Elections (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill, 2024, that sought to replace Section 39 of the Elections Act, thereby retaining the existing legal framework on livestreaming results announced at polling stations.

Shollei’s remarks come amid growing public debate over electoral transparency, the electronic transmission of results and the respective roles of polling stations, constituency tallying centres and the national tallying centre.

The National Assembly passed the Bill with amendments on October 22, 2026, and returned it to the Senate for further consideration, leaving the final legislative position subject to the remaining parliamentary process.

Shollei said public discussion of the proposed changes had been clouded by confusion between livestreaming results as they are announced at polling stations and the formal declaration of election results by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

She maintained that deleting the contentious clause was intended to preserve the existing safeguards rather than abolish the public viewing of election results.

The controversy over livestreaming is rooted in longstanding concerns about the credibility of Kenya’s elections, particularly following the disputed 2007 presidential election and the violence that followed.

The electoral crisis exposed weaknesses in the management, communication and verification of election results, prompting subsequent reforms aimed at improving transparency and strengthening public confidence in the electoral process.

Shollei recalled participating in parliamentary deliberations that sought to address gaps in the transmission of results following the crisis.

“After the nullification of the results, there were gaps in the transmission of results. Parliament then, and I remember it was my first time in Parliament, and I was a member of the delegated Justice and Legal Affairs Committee, and I was chairperson of the delegated, and that's when we put in the clauses, including this contentious section 39(1G,” she said.

She added that the provisions were introduced to improve the handling and transmission of election results.

“Those provisions were introduced to strengthen the framework for transmitting election results,” Shollei added.

Section 39 of the Elections Act provides the legal framework for determining and communicating election results. The livestreaming provision requires the IEBC to establish a mechanism for livestreaming results as announced at polling stations, allowing the public to follow the counting process as it unfolds.

The Act also distinguishes between livestreamed results intended for public information and the formal declaration of results by the commission. This distinction has become central to the current debate, with questions emerging over how transparency mechanisms relate to the legal authority to verify, tally and declare results.

The provision has also faced legal scrutiny. A High Court judgment delivered on September 22, 2026, upheld the constitutionality of Section 39 and Regulation 83(2) of the Elections (General) Regulations. The National Assembly subsequently cited the judgment when explaining its decision to delete Clause 22 of the Bill.

Against this background, Shollei argued that claims that Parliament had abolished livestreaming misrepresented the legislative changes made by MPs.

The Deputy Speaker also defended the national tallying centre at Bomas of Kenya, explaining that it serves an important constitutional function in aggregating presidential results received from constituencies.

Under Article 138 of the Constitution, a presidential candidate must secure more than half of all votes cast and at least 25 per cent of the votes in more than half of Kenya’s 47 counties to be declared elected in the first round.

Shollei argued that the national tallying centre is necessary to determine whether a candidate has met these constitutional requirements, insisting that aggregation should not be confused with altering figures announced at polling stations or constituency tallying centres.

She also criticised what she described as contradictory positions among some opponents of the Bill, accusing them of challenging livestreaming through legal proceedings while simultaneously claiming that Parliament was seeking to eliminate it.

Her defence comes as political and public scrutiny of the electoral framework intensifies ahead of the 2027 polls, when the credibility of results transmission and declaration is expected to remain a major issue.

The Bill’s final provisions will depend on the completion of the parliamentary process. Under Article 110(4) of the Constitution, the two Houses must resolve disagreements over legislation concerning county governments through the prescribed process.

The legislator urged Kenyans to rely on official parliamentary records and court decisions when assessing the proposed changes, warning against presenting amendments as settled law before the legislative process is complete.

“I urge people to be honest and stop portraying the Bill as a fait accompli, because it must still go through the established parliamentary process.”

The debate reaffirms the importance of distinguishing livestreaming, electronic transmission, tallying, and formal declaration of results as Kenya prepares for the 2027 General Election.