By Victor Bwire
Kenya has been investing heavily in making our electoral process credible, fair, transparent, trusted, and acceptable to Kenyans under the leadership of the IEBC, with good results. Save for inadequate civic education and inertia in finalising and strictly implementing election-related laws, including campaign financing, voter bribery, misuse of public resources, and election-related violence, election management remains highly professional and democratic.
In the recently concluded November 2025 by-elections across the country, away from the violence, intimidation, and tensions usually associated with campaigns, the most worrying issue was the media's management of legal requirements for results tallying and transmission, especially on digital platforms, both regulated and unregulated.
Everyone was releasing results, making it impossible to follow. This must be addressed, and stakeholders, especially the media, observers, and agents, must stop publicising results after individual counts or releasing results outside the law.
The law provides that only the IEBC can determine, declare, and publish election results at the close of voting. These are then picked up by the media for inclusion in news coverage, not individuals counting and declaring their preferred candidates as winners or creating captions that imply who is leading.
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Remember, the IEBC is allowed to announce provisional results before determining and declaring the final results. This remains a delicate balance, particularly with content creators on digital platforms.
Constituency Returning Officers are responsible for tallying, announcing, and declaring the final results from each polling station in a constituency for the positions of MP and MCA. They also announce the results from each polling station for the election of the president, governor, senator, and county woman representative (results at the polling station being final results refer to the 2016 amendments). County Returning Officers tally, announce, and declare the final results from constituencies for the election of governor, senator, and county woman representative to the National Assembly.
Even as media houses and election observer groups plan joint tallying through situation rooms and deploy teams to polling centres, they must only receive and publish results after the IEBC has announced them. Election laws state that influencing an election through bribery, inducing a voter to disclose their choice, or displaying a marked ballot constitutes an offence.
Regulations provide a framework for the regulation and limitation of media coverage, and the IEBC may prohibit a media house that contravenes the Code of Conduct under Section 45 of the Media Council Act from transmitting election information without adhering to professional ethics. Publishing exit poll results or regulated information before IEBC announcements is prohibited. Displaying how individuals voted is also an offence because Kenya uses secret balloting. Elections must be free from violence, intimidation, improper influence, and corruption.
At the newsroom level, the Media Council of Kenya’s guidelines for election reporting provide that results from SMS polls on broadcasting or digital platforms should not be treated as representative scientific results, and audiences should be clearly warned. The number and spread of respondents should be disclosed. Presenters should state clearly that such results do not reflect public opinion. They must also be fair when reading selected audience feedback so that it reflects the diversity of opinions expressed.
We must establish firm ways of dealing with election offences, including poll-related violence, voter bribery, corruption of election officials, and fraud, as provided for in various laws. Firm action is needed against perpetrators of election offences. Hopefully, the IEBC and political parties will not shield officials and agents who allow themselves to be misused during the voting process. Likewise, individuals who defame others or accuse them of electoral malpractice without evidence should be held responsible.
Efforts must be made to clean both the political and electoral processes so that participating becomes rewarding, meaningful, and enjoyable for the country, its citizens, and candidates, while guarding against information manipulation during elections.
Digital platforms are key drivers of information flow, especially among the youth, and all players in the electoral process must prioritise these platforms in civic and voter education. Media in all forms and formats should vigorously educate the public on the need to register, assess aspirants and candidates, facilitate open political debates, and vote for leaders based on merit and quality. Unfortunately, the public appears largely unbothered.
Mr Victor Bwire is the Head of Media Development and Strategy at the Media Council of Kenya.
