National Assembly Passes Elections Amendment Bill 2024, Removing Requirement For IEBC To Livestream Election Results

The National Assembly has passed the Elections Amendment Bill 2024, effectively eliminating the statutory obligation requiring the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to livestream election results during national polls.

Cleared by the National Assembly on Thursday, October 22, 2026, following its prior approval by the Senate, the legislation alters administrative oversight ahead of the 2027 General Election.

Key Statutory Changes under Clause 22

Clause 22 of the bill repeals and replaces Section 39 of the Elections Act, which governs the formal determination, electronic transmission, and official declaration of election results.

Under the amended statutory framework:

• Finality of Polling Station Results: The IEBC remains legally bound to determine, declare, and publish results immediately after polling closes, maintaining that results announced at the polling station remain final.

• Removal of Mandatory Livestream Feed: The commission is no longer legally mandated to maintain a real-time public electronic stream of declared results. While the public IEBC data feed will no longer be statutory, accredited media houses and independent observers retain the right to tally and broadcast results independently.

Addressing concerns regarding public verification and transparency, Deputy Speaker Gladys Boss Shollei argued that physical ballot retention provides sufficient legal safeguards in election petitions.

“If there is a query, the ballot box will be brought back. And that’s why last time the Supreme Court, when they decided they want to recount the votes, the one from Tiaty was brought to the Supreme Court, the one from… Mombasa… So that is how it’s done. So there is nothing wrong,” Shollei stated.

Defeated Amendments and Reversal of Policy

During the debate, an amendment sponsored by Suba South MP Caroli Omondi—which proposed revised guidelines on how presidential results are tallied, verified, and communicated—was defeated.

National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah opposed the proposal, warning against introducing major procedural changes close to an election window.

“If we start tinkering with electoral laws, substantive issues touching on our electoral processes, and also in the transmission of results… we stand accused,” Ichung’wah warned.

The passage of the bill represents a reversal of the position taken by Parliament in 2022, when the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee rejected a similar proposal by the IEBC to scrap live result broadcasting.