ELOG’S BY ELECTION REPORT FOR MIGORI AND SAKWA Nairobi, 16th October, 2018 Today, ELOG released its report on the just concluded senatorial by elections in Migori County as well as MCA by-election in Central Sakwa. The two by-elections were conducted by IEBC on Monday, 8 October, 2018. Background The Elections Observation Group (ELOG) is a permanent national platform composed of civil society and faith-based organizations committed to promote citizen participation in the electoral processes, through non- partisan, impartial domestic observation and objective reporting of elections. At the core of ELOG’s goal is the advancement of democratic elections which are open and progressive towards better governance. ELOG has closely monitored the two by-elections from a week to the Election Day through the deployment of eight (8) Long Term Observers (LTOs) in Migori County, each representing the eight (8) sub counties (constituencies) and one (1) in Siaya for Central Sakwa by election. In addition to the LTOs, ELOG deployed Short Term Observers (STOs) on the Election Day. In Migori senatorial race, ELOG deployed a total of 36 stationary observers while in Central Sakwa Ward, ELOG deployed 10 observers. ELOG’s primary goal was to collect valuable information to enhance the integrity of the election process and to contribute to a peaceful election. Profile Both, Migori Senate seat and Central Sakwa (Siaya) MCA seat, by-elections were occasioned by the deaths of the senator and the MCA. Migori county has 8 sub counties1 with a total of 388, 633 registered voters with 826 polling stations and 596 registration centres while Central Sakwa Ward has 11, 823 registered voters with 23 polling station and 14 registration centres. Central Sakwa ward is in Siaya County Pre-Election Environment ELOG deployed 8 constituency based long term observers (LTOs) during the last week of the pre- by- election period. ELOG however, did not manage to observe the pre-election environment in Sakwa Central ward in Bondo Constituency. The ELOG LTOs observed the pre-election environment to monitor the following three key aspects a) IEBC Preparations and voter education provision, b) Political Campaigns and c) Incidences of electoral malpractices. 1 Awendo, Kuria East, Kuria West, Nyatike, Rongo, Suna East, Suna West, and Uriri constituencies. LTO Findings I. IEBC Preparations and Provision of Voter Education ELOG observed that ahead of the by-election, there was systematic voter education carried out in Migori county. The voter education was mostly conducted by Uraia Trust, a civil society. We also observed that while IEBC began to conduct voter education exercise in two constituencies only, namely Awendo and Rongo, the exercise was a bit late – as late as a week to the by-election. We doubt if the voter education conducted by the IEBC has been effective. However, the long term observers did not record any voter registration activities happening. There were no reported incidences that adversely affected the voter education exercise such as disruptions and violence. The exercise was conducted smoothly. However, the role of media in voter education has hardly been felt; our observers on the ground reported that there has been few instances of voter education / information being aired on media outside news coverage especially by Uraia Trust. Uraia Trust conducted the voter education through targeted group trainings and adhoc trainings such as in market centres. Our LTOs observed that despite the laxity in voter education which was started one week to the elections day, the IEBC conducted the training of their polling staff in time before the elections day. In their training the polling staff were also required to sign an oath to maintain the secrecy of the ballot. ELOG observed that the voter education was inclusive of special interest groups (SIGs) – women, youth and persons living with disability. II. Political Campaigns ELOG observed that no party or candidate campaigned outside the stipulated campaign hours (All campaigns were required to end at 6 pm). In two sub counties (Awendo and Rongo), our observers reported incidents of a candidate distributing money as an inducement to vote for them on the e-day. However, there were no incidents of government or police restrictions limiting political assembly or dialogue in the county III. Incidences of Electoral Malpractices In Awendo, Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) supporters were reportedly threatening the Federal Party of Kenya (FPK) candidate against campaigning in the constituency. The supporters of ODM candidate also did not allow the FPK candidate to put up his campaign material. The campaigns in Migori have been relatively calm, there has been no incident of violence or intimidation. ELOG did not record any incidents of; ● Attack on journalists or media house; ● Displacement of persons or people moving away due to security concerns; ● Incident of violence or intimidation; & ● Dissemination / publishing of inciting leaflets. In summary, the campaign period in Migori was relatively peaceful despite being hotly contested between ODM and FPK parties. Election Day Processes In all the polling stations that ELOG deployed observers both in Migori (36) and Central Sakwa (10), they were all allowed to observe. Opening and Set up of Polling Stations Participation of Women ● In Migori county, 26% of the presiding officers were women whereas in Central Sakwa 40% were women. Set Up Process ● In all the polling stations, there was presence of adequate security personnel. ● All polling stations were found to have a KIEMS2 kit and all the ballot boxes shown to be empty before being sealed ready for the vote. ● In Migori county, 71% of the polling stations opened by 6:15 am with remaining 29% opening between 6:16 am and 7:00 am. In Central Sakwa 80% opened on time. Voting Process We established that the voting process generally went smooth; ● In both Migori and Central Sakwa, all the ballot papers were stamped with the validating stamp before being issued to voters. ● All the voters’ fingers were marked with indelible ink/marker pen after voting process. ● In 9% (3) of the polling stations observed in Migori and 20% (2) in Central Sakwa, the observers reported the KIEMS kits failed to function properly at some point. The main reason for failure was that the kits went on and off, and ‘hung’ frequently. In Sagero Mixed Secondary School polling station number 2 (Suna West, Migori County), the KIEMS kit failed completely after identifying eight (8) voters and had to be replaced with another. This did not sit well with the party agents, since it was not clear how it would affect the 8 voters who had already voted ● In about 26% (9) of the polling stations in Migori and 50% (5) in Central Sakwa, one or more persons were denied to vote. Majority of these were voters who had shown up at the wrong polling stations. The main cases were recorded in the registrations centres that had more than one polling station. ● In 65% (22) in Migori and 60% (6) in Central Sakwa, one or more persons were assisted to vote with 6% in Migori and 10% in Central Sakwa reporting many women assisted to vote. ● In all the polling stations, Migori and Central Sakwa, assisted voters were assisted to vote by a person of their choice that they had come with or by the presiding officer as stipulated in the elections regulations. ● In all the polling stations observed, no one was manually verified. All were identifiable with the KIEMS kit. However, in 59% (20) of the observed polling stations in Migori and 41% (14) in Central Sakwa, the polling clerks crossed off names of those identified on the manual (printed) voter register. No explanation was given for the inaction of the same in the remaining observed stations. 2 KIEMS - Kenya Intergrated Elections Management System ● In all polling stations observed, both Migori and Central Sakwa, the secrecy of the ballot was not violated. ● 44% (15) of the observed polling stations in Migori and 40% (4) in Central Sakwa, had no voters in the queue by 5 pm, the official closing time. Despite that, all voters in the queue, for the polling station that still had queues, were allowed to vote. Counting Process On the closing and counting process, our findings on all the polling stations in Migori & Central Sakwa ward observed indicated as follows: ● Both Migori and Central Sakwa, the ballot box seals were still intact before the counting process began. ● There was an ODM agent present who also signed the results declaration form. ● In 97% of stations in Migori there was a FPK party agent present who also signed the results declaration form while in Central Sakwa there were CCP agents in 100% of stations. ● In Migori, Independent candidates polling agents were only found in 24% of the polling stations where they also signed the results declaration. ● The results forms were publicly affixed outside the polling stations. Results Verification ELOG observers collected the results from their polling stations and sent to the ELOG information center for analysis in both by-elections, ELOG scrutinized the results data from its observers versus the results that were posted at IEBC’s form site.3 ELOG notes that all the official results matched the corresponding data collected by ELOG in the observed polling stations. Fake News Debunking Elections have in the recent past been marred by incidents of fake news and misinformation especially through social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and WhatsApp. As part of the open election initiative, ELOG and Code for Kenya partnered to fact-check scores of information and claims received on the Migori senatorial by-election. The team identified a total of 30 incidences posted on various social media platforms on the Migori senatorial by election, 12 incidences were debunked, 2 were inconclusive while the rest were verified.