A bill before the Senate would stop election losers from relying on unsigned declaration forms to challenge results in court.
The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2018, sponsored by Narok Senator Ledama Olekina, says results should stand even where a candidate or agent refuses to sign the declaration form.
It further provides that the absence of a candidate or agent at the polling station, or a refusal to sign, should not invalidate the announced outcome.
“The refusal or failure of a candidate or an agent to sign a declaration form or the absence of the candidate or agent at the polling station shall not invalidate the results as announced,” reads the Bill in part.
During the last elections, some defeated candidates declined to sign the forms and instructed their agents to do the same, citing objections to the outcome. Those unsigned forms were later presented in court as evidence.
If Parliament passes the proposal, the unsigned declaration forms would no longer be relied on in election petitions. The Bill also says a candidate who refused or failed to sign would be barred from using that refusal as evidence, and the court would take judicial notice of it.
Under the proposal, presiding officers would be required to record any objections raised by candidates on the tally form and note any refusal to sign.
Olekina says signatures matter because they show a candidate, directly or through an agent, was present and observed the process, even if they disagreed with the result.
The Bill seeks to amend the Elections Act, No 29 of 2012.
