By Eunice Omollo
On 15 August 2022, Kenya’s election commission declared that William Ruto, the incumbent deputy president, had won the August 9 presidential election with 7,176,141 votes against his closest rival Raila Odinga, who had garnered 6,942,930.
On 16 August,2022, Raila Odinga, the Azimio la Umoja presidential candidate, held a press conference disputing the results announced by election commission chairperson, Wafula Chebukati, the previous day.
The Azimio faction termed the results null and void, and it is expected that they will appeal the dispute at Kenya’s supreme court.
Kenyans have been sharing posts on social media, in turn supporting or opposing the result. A user on Twitter, posted a screenshot image replying to Dennis Itumbi, who works for Ruto’s campaign. “Explain this,” he requested.
According to the Form 34A captured in the image, at Ramula Primary School Polling Station 1, in Kisumu County, there were 115 registered voters, 94 valid votes cast, and 1 rejected vote on election day.
The post alleges that none of the 4 presidential candidates garnered the votes cast at this polling station, in a part of the country that voted strongly for Odinga.
According to Kenya’s Elections Act 2011, there are four forms used to collate results in the presidential election.
| Forms used in Kenya’s presidential election | |
| Form | Tally |
| 34A | Presidential election results at the polling station |
| 34B | Presidential election results at the constituency tallying centre |
| 34C | Presidential election results at the national tallying centre |
| 34D | Certificate of the president- elect (winner of the election) |
Source: National Council for Law Reporting
We downloaded the Form 34A using the election commission’s website. Indeed, it does not indicate the number of votes each candidate got from the 94 valid votes cast.
We searched for the same polling station on Form 34B. It indicated that all the 94 votes cast at the polling station were garnered by Raila Odinga, and one vote was rejected, just as in Form 34A. The same figures are contained in Form 34C.
While the form filled at the polling station did not indicate who had won the votes at Ramula Primary School Polling Station 1, forms from the constituency and national tallying centres made clear that Odinga had won them.
