The Electoral Commission yesterday threatened tough sanctions against Kanu, unless the party substantiates claims the IEBC rigged the Kericho by-election for Jubilee Party's Aaron Cheruiyot.
The independent Boundaries and Electoral Commission spoke tough on a day officials of the Independence party turned down an invitation to make a formal complaint against the outcome of the March 7 by-election.
Kanu had been invited to appear before the IEBC by noon yesterday, to submit proof on their Sunday claims that sucked the commission into the centre of vote-rigging allegations.
The IEBC said it had constituted the Code of Conduct Enforcement Committee to commence the process of invoking the appropriate sanctions against Kanu.
“The Commission will not allow contestants or political parties to disparage it or undermine the integrity of elections and the democratic process generally,” IEBC chief executive officer Ezra Chiloba said.
He said some of the sanctions include slapping a party with fines, barring a party from fielding candidates in a general election or by-election or blocking a party from running media advertisements on elections.
But Kanu secretary general Nick Salat scoffed at the IEBC threats, saying the onus was on the commission to thoroughly investigate its electoral officers to “prove our figures wrong”.
He said they had not received any formal invitation from the IEBC.
“The IEBC has no locus standi to purport to summon us when it is against them we are raising fundamental questions regarding their conduct of the Kericho by-eelection,” Salat told the Star on the phone.
Salat said Kanu has a right as a stakeholder in the country's democratic process to freely criticise the IEBC and air its grievances without intimidation.
Chiloba was addressing the press at the commission Anniversary Towers headquarters regarding serious claims by Kanu that the IEBC used an IT system with a geometric progression mathematical formula to rig the Kericho mby-election.
He said the IEBC rejects Kanu’s claims that it aided rigging in the Kericho poll and challenged the party to either accept the outcome or move to court to challenge the election results as provided for in law.
“The unsubstantiated allegations and continuous attacks on the commission by the party constitute a serious breach of the Code of Conduct for Political Parties,” Chiloba said.
The Elections Act requires contestants in an election to accept the final outcome if they fail to challenge election results in the Election Court.