NAIROBI, Kenya—Former Law Society of Kenya (LSK) President Faith Odhiambo has challenged Parliament to clarify whether proposed changes to Kenya’s election laws will remove the legal requirement for the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to livestream results as they are announced at polling stations.
Odhiambo wants Parliament to publish the final text of the Elections (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill, 2024, following its passage by the National Assembly on October 22, 2026, amid growing debate over electoral transparency ahead of the 2027 General Election.
In a statement, she argued that Kenyans must be able to observe how votes are counted and translated into declared results, rather than being left to rely solely on assurances from electoral institutions.
At the centre of the dispute is Clause 22 of the Bill, which proposes to repeal and replace Section 39 of the Elections Act, the provision governing the determination, transmission and declaration of election results.
The proposed amendment retains requirements for the IEBC to determine, declare and publish election results, electronically transmit presidential results and make polling-station results forms available online. However, it omits the express requirement for the commission to establish a mechanism for livestreaming results as they are announced at polling stations.
Odhiambo said the distinction between transmitting results electronically and livestreaming their announcement was significant, as the two mechanisms serve different purposes in enabling the public to scrutinise the electoral process.
She cautioned that the omission should not automatically be interpreted as a prohibition on livestreaming, but insisted that Parliament must clarify whether the provision was removed from the final version approved by MPs.
“Parliament must clarify whether this omission survived the amendments MPs approved,” the statement said.
The former LSK president also invoked previous court decisions concerning the livestreaming requirement, arguing that the legal framework must reflect constitutional standards on transparency and accountability.
In April 2018, the High Court, in Katiba Institute v Attorney General, invalidated Section 39(1G) of the Elections Act. The provision required livestreaming of results announced at polling stations but restricted the streams to public information and excluded them as a basis for declaring election results.
The Court of Appeal upheld the decision in October 2023 in
According to Odhiambo, those rulings did not prohibit livestreaming but underscored the need for a constitutionally sound framework governing public access to election results.
She cited Article 86 of the Constitution, which requires the electoral system to ensure that voting and counting are conducted transparently and accountably, with accurate and verifiable results.
The debate comes as Kenya prepares for the 2027 General Election, with questions emerging over how voters, political parties, election observers and the media will independently follow results announcements and compare them with the figures transmitted and published by the electoral commission.
Odhiambo called on Parliament to guarantee public access to live results announcements and urged the IEBC to explain how citizens would be able to follow and scrutinise the process under the proposed legal framework.
“Electoral reform should make every vote easier to verify, not leave transparency dependent on institutional discretion,” the statement said. “The ballot is secret but the count must be open.”
The Bill has passed both the Senate and the National Assembly and, as of October 23, 2026, awaits presidential assent before it can become law.
