IEBC Commissioner Hassan Noor Hassan/HANDOUTThe Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has urged political leaders and candidates to prepare to accept defeat in the 2027 General Election.
The agency warned that refusal to concede could heighten tensions and trigger violence.
IEBC Commissioner Hassan Noor Hassan said political contestants had a responsibility to accept election outcomes graciously as the country prepares for the August 2027 polls.
“Our appeal to the political class is to accept defeat graciously as and when it happens,” Hassan said.
He noted that countries that conduct peaceful elections often do so because political contestants accept defeat and allow the electoral process to take its course.
“Many of the countries you hear there was no violence in are because the contestants accepted defeat,” he said.
Hassan was speaking during a national election security roundtable consultative forum organised by the electoral agency, bringing together key institutions involved in the management of elections and the flow of information.
The meeting was attended by representatives of the Media Council of Kenya, the Communications Authority of Kenya and the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties, among other stakeholders.
Hassan said early acceptance of an election outcome could significantly reduce political tensions, particularly during the period when results are being tallied and announced.
“The moment you accept defeat even before the results are announced, then you tone down the tension,” he said.
He added that the IEBC would continue engaging political parties and candidates ahead of the election to encourage peaceful competition and acceptance of results.
“That is our appeal to the politicians, but we will also create time to engage with them,” Hassan said.
The commissioner expressed confidence in the preparedness of the electoral agency, citing the conduct of 32 by-elections over the past year as evidence that its systems were functioning effectively.
“What gives us hope is that, in the last one year, we have conducted 32 by-elections,” Hassan said.
He said the by-elections had provided the commission with an opportunity to test key components of the electoral process, including the recruitment of election officials, sourcing of election materials and the results management system.
According to Hassan, the commission had recorded a 100 per cent success rate in the areas tested during the by-elections.
“The IEBC systems are working perfectly: recruitment of staff, sourcing of materials, results management systems. It was 100 per cent,” he said.
Hassan also defended the commission's use of technology, saying the systems deployed during recent elections had remained operational.
“Our technology has not failed,” he said.
He assured stakeholders that the commission was working towards delivering a credible and efficient electoral system in 2027.
“We want to guarantee you a perfect system,” Hassan said, adding that the IEBC was developing a system that would make it difficult for candidates to reject election results without credible grounds.
“It will be a system that will be very difficult for anybody to say no to it,” he said.
The commissioner, however, acknowledged that technology and electoral preparedness alone would not guarantee a peaceful election, saying political behaviour remained a major factor in determining whether elections were conducted without violence.
Hassan warned that Kenya must not return to the violence witnessed following the disputed 2007 General Election, which left more than 1,000 people dead and displaced hundreds of thousands.
“We cannot go back to 2007/2008. History has taught us a lot. We cannot even contemplate about electoral violence,” he said.
He identified political competition, ethnic mobilisation, misinformation and unresolved grievances as some of the risks that could threaten the electoral process.
