The High Court has thrown out a petition filed by Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah seeking to declare the national tallying and verification of presidential election results unconstitutional. In a judgment delivered on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, the court upheld Section 39(1C) of the Elections Act and Regulation 83(2) of the Elections (General) Regulations, confirming that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) retains the legal mandate to aggregate and verify presidential results at the national level. Court Upholds National Verification Mandate Omtatah had filed the petition arguing that the Constitution places the primary and final responsibility for tallying, verifying, and declaring presidential results strictly at the constituency level. He asked the court to issue orders barring the IEBC from re-tallying or re-verifying presidential results once constituency returning officers announce them. However, the bench ruled that national aggregation remains a necessary legal requirement because presidential candidates must satisfy unique, nationwide electoral benchmarks. Under Article 138(4) of the Constitution, a winning candidate must secure more than 50 percent of the total votes cast nationally, as well as at least 25 percent of the votes cast in more than half of the 47 counties. The judges observed that electoral officials cannot verify this dual threshold...
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