The issue of votes cast and valid votes
A friend of mine in Kenya shared some simple math on the misunderstanding on the issue of votes cast and valid votes, which may lead to an election rerun in Kenya. As reported in the media, results of the votes counted so far in the presidential election stand like this:
” Of those counted at 8:15 am Wednesday, Kenyatta had won just over 2.79 million or 53 percent of valid votes cast against Odinga with 2.20 million or 42 percent, a gap that could still be easily overturned. But a staggering 334,000 ballots were rejected, making up some five percent of votes cast and totaling more than those so far assigned to the third candidate in the race, deputy prime minister Musalia Mudavadi, who has two percent of votes so far.” – Times of Oman
Here is the math based on the Kenya constitution: Two candidates vying for the position of the Chief. A total of 10 votes are cast. Candidate A gets 4 votes, while B gets 3 votes and 3 votes get rejected. So the valid votes are 7. If you select the winner based on the VALID votes for candidate A you get 4/7×100 = 57%. Candidate B gets 3/7×100= 42%. However, if you calculate based on the total votes cast ( 10) as the constitution says, you get the following: Candidate A gets 4/10 x100 = 40%; Candidate B gets 3/10×100= 30% and the rejected votes ( which also must be counted ) make 3/10X100= 30%. And that is the true picture of the result of this election based on the provisions of Article 138(4)(a)
So according to this explanation I got from her the key words should be votes cast’… and not valid votes. I may not be familiar with the Kenya Constitution but this election law sounds like the one we have here in Zimbabwe.