Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Chairperson Erastus Ethekon Edung has strongly refuted allegations of vote rigging in Kenya’s presidential elections, insisting the country’s electoral framework is too stringent to allow for such manipulation.

Speaking during a media roundtable on Wednesday, August 6, Ethekon maintained that the election process from voting to tallying follows a strict legal path that safeguards its integrity. “Our elections are highly regulated. We vote, we tally, we announce results, and if there are disputes, there’s a legal framework to handle them,” he said.

Responding to questions about ghost polling stations, Edung admitted he was not directly aware of any, but acknowledged their possibility. “To be fair, I didn’t expect we would face such questions today.

I don’t have the specifics, but I know these things exist, and that’s why our national operations team is actively investigating their whereabouts and timelines,” he explained, adding that IEBC will publish all gazetted polling stations for public verification.

Addressing accusations of bias, the IEBC chair dismissed them as largely perception-based, lacking in factual grounding. “Let’s agree impartiality is often about perception, not necessarily fact,” he said.

Looking ahead to the 2027 General Election, Ethekon pledged to eliminate any weaknesses in the system that could undermine public confidence. “Come 2027, it will be practically impossible to rig an election. And if anyone sees a loophole, let us know so we can seal it,” he stated.

He concluded by reiterating the Commission’s focus on data and the rule of law. “At IEBC, we work with numbers not emotions,” Edung said, reaffirming the agency’s commitment to credible, transparent elections.