A proposed amendment to Kenya’s Elections Act would require the electoral commission to turn around requests to scrutinise presidential vote results within three days, and requests covering other elective positions within a week.

The deadlines sit in Clause 30 of the Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2024, which would insert a new Section 82A into the Act. The provision also proposes that election information, including election technology, be released in line with the Access to Information Act, the Data Protection Act and the IEBC Act.

Under the draft, information supplied in softcopy would attract no fee. The commission could charge for hardcopy material, but only up to the actual cost of copying and supplying it.

The three-day window is framed specifically around requests tied to scrutiny of presidential votes. The seven-day window covers scrutiny requests for votes in other elective positions. Neither deadline is written as a blanket rule for every access request touching the commission’s servers.

Separately, Clause 23 addresses election technology. It proposes that the technology be available for scrutiny by candidates, courts and other persons required under the law to examine it. The same clause would place intellectual property rights in election technology procured by the commission with the IEBC, and would require election servers to be hosted inside Kenya.

Taken together, the provisions do not amount to an open-door right for any Kenyan to enter, operate or access IEBC servers at will. Access would still run through the applicable legal framework, and the obligations described apply if the Bill is enacted in its current or a similar form.

The Bill is sponsored by Senators Aaron Cheruiyot and Stewart Madzayo. It is tied to electoral reform recommendations from the National Dialogue Committee.

The text remains a proposal. Parliament may amend its clauses before any enactment, and the access rights and deadlines described here would take effect only in whatever form is finally passed.