Why opposition is wary over IEBC's polls system

Controversy over the voting and tallying system used by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) in 2017 and 2022 has resurfaced from charges levelled against indicted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by the US in a New York court.

A shocking accusation from a former Venezuelan intelligence chief has cast a dark shadow over the company that provided the technological support for Kenya’s last two general elections, raising urgent questions about the integrity of Kenya’s electoral process.

This revelation coincides with a legal and political crisis at the IEBC, which now faces a seven-day ultimatum from the United Opposition over its silence on these very concerns.

In a damning letter from a US federal prison, Hugo “El Pollo” Carvajal, once Venezuela’s top military spy, has labelled President Nicolás Maduro’s government a “narco-terrorist organisation".

Within his explosive claims is the allegation that the electronic voting systems supplied by Smartmatic International, the same company that supplied the Kenya Integrated Elections Management System (KIEMS) kits in 2022 and 2017, were used by Maduro for electoral fraud in presidential elections.

"The Smartmatic system can be altered—this is a fact," said Carvahal, while also claiming that he oversaw the placement of a specific official responsible for information systems at Venezuela's electoral authority.

He also claimed that the technology was later exported abroad, including to the United States. The United Opposition in Kenya now claims it is the same software that was used to allegedly manipulate the poll in favour of President William Ruto.

In July 2022, three Venezuelan IT experts, Jose Gregorio Camargo Castellanos, Salvador Javier Sosa Suarez and Joel Gustavo Rodriguez Garcia, who had been hired by IEB,C were arrested at JKIA while in possession of IEBC stickers.

The then Directorate of Criminal Investigations boss George Kinoti said the Venezuelan nationals were nabbed because their bags were flagged by airport staff for containing election materials.

“Upon investigations, police established that the suspects' contracts did not explicitly state they were employees of IEBC or the IT firm contracted to deliver poll materials, as alleged by IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati. Camargo confessed that he was given the materials from Panama by his company M/S Smartmatic International Holding B.V and that the material was destined for a private office in Nairobi,” said Kinoti

Kinoti further revealed that the three foreigners were in Kenya to do business with Abdulahi Abdi Mohamed, who had allegedly contracted them to come to his office in Nairobi for work-related activities and were to report to Mohamed's Nairobi office and not at IEBC. 

Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition presidential candidate Raila Odinga (now deceased) filed an unsuccessful petition at the Supreme Court in 2022, where his lawyers Paul Mwangi and Julie Soweto argued Smartmatic IT experts had rigged the polls.

They projected results on relayed on Form 34 (A), which had the name of a Venezuelan Jose Carmago IT expert hired by IEBC as an overlay on the document, which allegedly showed interference by the foreigners.

Police also raided the ninth floor of Trans National House, where Kenya Kwanza presidential candidate also operated an office, after rumours circulated that the foreigners had transferred two servers from there.

It was from that evidence and more proof of tampering with the elections by the Venezuelans that Raila and Azimio filed a petition challenging the presidential results announced by Chebukati in August 2022.

Raila’s lawyer Paul Mwangi and Julie Soweto projected a results form (Form 34A) from a polling station that appeared to have the name "Jose Camargo" as an "overlay" on the document. The legal team argued this was evidence that a foreigner was interfering with the final results, essentially acting as the decision-maker for the presidential election. 

And now in New York Carvajal, a former head of Venezuelan military intelligence, is also asserting that the software "has been used to alter election outcomes" in other countries.

He further claims the Smartmatic system was developed under "direct regime oversight for the explicit purpose of manipulating vote counts". 

For Kenyans, the revelation intensifies existing worries from past electoral controversies and leads to a question: Who truly controls the technology upon which our democracy relies? 

The IEBC is facing a political crisis after the United Opposition coalition accused it of being implicated in a global scheme involving controversial election technology.

The controversy stems from a reminder letter dated December 22, 2025, signed by Advocate Ndegwa Njiru on behalf of the United Opposition—comprising the Wiper Patriotic Front, Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP), Democratic Party (DP), and Democratic Action Party–Kenya (DAP-K).

The letter addressed to IEBC CEO Marjan Marjan said the Commission illegally procured the Smartmatic software for the 2027 presidential elections before the current commissioners took office.

“We are aware that the Venezuelan SMARTMATIC election technology you unlawfully procured and had it deployed in the absence of the commission is a clear scheme to aid the current regime in rigging the 2027 general elections,” cautioned Ndegwa.

He added: "Kindly take notice that I am still waiting for the reply to my letter dated 12th September 2025 in which I sought for information regarding the manner and the extent to which you Mr. Marjan Marjan intermeddled with the affairs of the commission, for the period the commissioners were absent.”

The letter gave the IEBC a final seven-day ultimatum to respond to a request first made on September 12, 2025, or face court action. 

This assertion is directly linked to the controversy fueled by the sworn declaration of Carvajal.

Smartmatic’s journey into Kenya’s electoral landscape has been embroiled with opacity and legal battles. The IEBC awarded Smartmatic a Sh3.2 billion contract in 2021 to supply 14,100 new KIEMS kits and, critically, the software to run on all kits, including 41,000 legacy devices from 2017.

From the outset, the deal was mired in mystery. An in-depth analysis published by local media in August 2022 revealed Smartmatic repeatedly refused to disclose its full ownership structure, ultimate beneficial owners, or its contract with IEBC, citing confidentiality.

They noted that the parent company, SGO Corporation Limited, appeared to have no independent directors, raising corporate governance red flags.

In July 2022, Smartmatic also refused to comment on its relationship with Seamless company, citing a non-disclosure agreement.

In his affidavit, the former Venezuelan three-star general Carvajal claimed that in 2006, Venezuelans working for Smartmatic were sent to the US with specific visas to modify election equipment.

The most worrying Kenyan chapter in the Smartmatic saga occurred after the 2022 presidential election. Following Raila Odinga’s constitutional petition challenging William Ruto’s win, the Supreme Court ordered the IEBC to grant agents access to its servers for scrutiny.

Smartmatic’s response was a defiant letter to the IEBC, dated August 31, 2022. The company flatly refused to provide “full access” to its servers, despite the Supreme Court’s order, claiming it would infringe on its intellectual property rights.

“We would like to clarify that such images contain software owned and copyrighted by Smartmatic and is thus IP protected,” the statement read.

In essence, a private contractor asserted that its proprietary interests superseded the Kenyan judiciary’s mandate to audit a presidential election.

Now, Carvajal’s claims from prison say under Maduro’s regime, Smartmatic’s systems were not just tools for voting but instruments of state-managed disinformation and electoral manipulation, woven into what he calls a “narco-terrorist” network involving Hezbollah and Cuban intelligence.

While Smartmatic has consistently denied any wrongdoing, calling such claims “false and defamatory,” the source of the allegation is significant. Carvajal is not a small player; he was the former director of Venezuela’s Military Counterintelligence Directorate (DGCIM), a regime insider now offering to cooperate with US authorities. His testimony adds weight to long-standing international concerns about the credibility of elections where Smartmatic technology was used.

The timing coincides with intensified US pressure on Caracas. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently stated Maduro has “repeatedly broken commitments” on free elections, with the US launching naval strikes against Venezuelan-linked drug trafficking networks.

The Standard sent several questions to IEBC’s chair and spokesperson about Smartmatic, seeking to know if the IEBC, in its procurement process, conducted thorough background checks on Smartmatic’s alleged links to contested elections and geopolitical controversies in Venezuela and the Philippines.

The Standard also sought to know from IEBC if Kenyans' biometric voter information ever accessible to or stored by a company now accused of being a tool of a foreign authoritarian regime. 

Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairman and spokesperson Erastus Edung Ethekon says the agency has not yet decided which technological company it will partner with in the 2027 elections.

"I have referred your questions to CEO. As of now we haven't taken any decision on technology for 2027," says Ethekon.

This confrontation erupts as Kenya remains in a fragile period of electoral trust-building. The IEBC is still recovering from the profound disputes of the 2017 annulled election and the contested 2022 poll both of which the IEBC used the controversial Smartmatic technology. 

Governance and legal experts underscore the seriousness of the information request itself. “The Access to Information Act is not a suggestion; it is a binding legal requirement,” noted constitutional lawyer Peter Wena. “The IEBC’s prolonged silence, even after a citizen made request for information is legally indefensible and politically damaging.”

The opposition’s legal letter warns, “The Commission’s failure to respond invites justifiable doubt as to its impartiality,” citing Article 88’s mandate for free and fair elections.

It concludes that such erosion of confidence “could precipitate electoral instability, constitutional crises, and irreversible damage to democratic institutions.”

Electoral law experts and civil society groups are now demanding immediate action. “This is not just about Venezuela; it’s about Kenya,” says Zedekiah Adika, an advocate and governance expert with Coast Human Rights body.

“We have a right to know if the system that declared our presidents was supplied, programmed, or potentially influenced by a company accused of facilitating electoral fraud for a narcotics-funded dictatorship.

Parliament must immediately summon the IEBC, Smartmatic representatives, and the investigative bodies to a public inquiry. We need a full forensic audit of the 2022 and 2017 systems.”