A Bill seeking to remove the IEBC’s legal obligation to livestream results from polling stations is at the final stage in the National Assembly before a vote. While the proposed changes simplify parts of the election law, they could make it harder for Kenyans to follow and scrutinize results as they are announced.

The Elections (Amendment) (No. 2) was passed by the Senate in December 2024. Sponsored by Aaron Cheruiyot and Stewart Madzayo, it came out of the National Dialogue Committee process. The Bill is separate from the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026, which the IEBC addressed in its July statement.

Under the proposed changes, the IEBC would no longer be legally required to livestream results as polling stations announce them. However, the key steps used to determine the winner would remain in place.

Results declared at polling stations would still be final. Presidential results would still have to be transmitted electronically within two hours, and the IEBC would still be required to verify the figures against those announced at the polling stations. Signed results forms would also remain available on a public website.

The main change is that Kenyans would lose the guarantee of watching results announcements live through an IEBC feed. Television stations and election observers could still broadcast them independently.

The commission argues that livestreaming is not what makes election results official. The signed results form completed at each polling station, known as Form 34A, is the official record of the presidential vote, following the Supreme Court’s 2017 ruling.

The IEBC also says the Bill removes wording from the Elections Act that the High Court declared unconstitutional in 2018.

That wording, introduced through a 2017 amendment, said livestreamed results were for public information only and could not be used to declare a winner. The court struck down that restriction following a petition by Katiba Institute and others.

The commission argues that removing the outdated wording would make the law clearer.

It has also raised concerns that viewers could mistake figures shown during a live broadcast for final results before the IEBC has verified them. This can fuel confusion and disputes while the official results are still being checked.

The 2018 court ruling removed the restriction on how livestreamed results could be used; it did not order the IEBC to stop livestreaming.

In fact, the court recognized that livestreaming allows the public to compare results announced at polling stations with the figures eventually declared by the IEBC.

Removing the outdated wording makes sense, but scrapping the commission’s obligation to livestream results is a separate decision. The court ruling does not require it.

Parliament has also previously supported livestreaming. In 2022, the National Assembly’s justice committee rejected an IEBC proposal to stop livestreaming presidential results. Former Speaker Justin Muturi has also described live results as a common democratic practice.

Concerns about viewers misinterpreting early figures could be addressed by clearly labeling them as provisional, rather than removing the public feed altogether.

Nothing in the Bill changes how votes are counted or checked, but it could make it harder for ordinary Kenyans to follow the results as they come in. With a live feed, a journalist, an election observer, or a voter at home can watch the announcements as they happen and spot a number that looks off. Without one, they would have to wait for the IEBC to post the results forms before they can start checking.

That wait is the real worry. The Bill says presidential results must be sent electronically within two hours, but it does not say how soon every polling station’s form has to appear online, which could leave the IEBC, political parties, and election observers looking at the figures well before the public.

MPs have a way out that does not mean abandoning the Bill’s cleanup. The 2018 court ruling cancelled the rule limiting what livestreamed results could be used for, not the livestream itself, so Parliament could delete that wording and keep the live feed.

The Constitution says elections must be open and accountable to the people. Taking away the livestream without a replacement that is just as quick would leave Kenyans with less to go on and no clear gain for the integrity of the vote.