Live coverage of vote tallying should be banned during general elections, the Kriegler Commission was told Tuesday.

During a peaceful session held at the Thika Municipal Hall, Ruiru mayor Geoffrey Kaara said that live coverage often led to heightened tension and raised emotions of supporters of different candidates.

Mr Kaara said live TV footage of the results was partly responsible the violence that erupted after President Kibaki was declared winner of the 2007 elections because some stations had aired unofficial results showing he was trailing behind his closest opponent.

Months apart

The councillor for Ithanga, Mr Chege Muchiri, said any results aired by TV or radio stations during the tallying should only come from the electoral body and not competing political parties.

"We have witnessed cases where some media houses were releasing unverified results that may have misled the public to believe there was rigging," said Mr Muchiri.

There were also suggestions for presidential polls to be held months apart with the parliamentary and civic ones.

Mr Michael Kaharu, the councillor of Market ward, said some TV stations and vernacular radio stations were openly taking sides in the campaigns.

Mr David Maina from Gatanga said some media houses were to blame for the post-election mayhem for giving premature results of the presidential tally and highlighting inflammatory statements from politicians during campaigns.

Most speakers expressed satisfaction with the way the electoral commission handled the elections in Juja Constituency, saying the polling was free and fair.

Was booed

But at one point Justice Kriegler called for calm after ODM parliamentary hopeful David Moreka was booed for saying he believed the Juja poll was not fair.

"Would you people like us to go away or listen to your views? This is a serious meeting and not a chaotic gathering," the commission chairman said.

Mr Moreka had said that the tally from the Githurai Kimbo polling station and another in Kilimambogo had not been received by the time the returning officer announced the parliamentary results.

Former Thika deputy mayor Yassin Osman said the alphabetical listing of candidates should be done away with and that the ECK should include photos of candidates in the ballots to avoid confusion.

University student Muhia Wanjiku said some politicians had prepared to unleash violence on certain communities irrespective of who won the elections. Anthony Mboche said a law should be introduced to revoke the candidature of any politicians found inciting people to violence.