Who Is Erastus Ethekon? The IEBC Chair Running the 2027 Election

Erastus Edung Ethekon, sworn in on 11 July 2025, chairs the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC). He will preside over the general election on 10 August 2027 and declare the presidential result. Before President William Ruto nominated him in May 2025, the Turkana County lawyer had no national political profile.

Turkana and the UN

In May 2025 The Africa Report described Ethekon as a 48-year-old human rights lawyer and governance specialist from Turkana. It said he had worked with the United Nations and served as County Attorney under Josphat Nanok (Governor, Turkana), who later became State House comptroller. The same report listed three master's degrees, in oil and gas law, conflict resolution and project management.

His home leaders have stood by him. At a gathering reported by The Standard on 14 July 2026, Jeremiah Lomorukai (Governor, Turkana), Cecilia Ngitit (Women Rep, Turkana) and MCA Ruth Kuya pointed to his UN and county career in defending him against political attacks.

How he was appointed

The IEBC had lacked a full commission since the fallout from the 2022 election. Eleven candidates for chair went before a selection panel; Ethekon's turn came on 25 March 2025. On 8 May 2025 Ruto nominated him along with six commissioners.

Not everyone was pleased. Kalonzo Musyoka said the choice ignored the spirit of the bipartisan talks. A TIFA poll that month found 55 per cent of respondents thought the recruitment lacked fairness.

MPs on the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee approved all seven nominees in late May 2025, but a High Court case by the activists Boniface Mwangi and Kelvin Omondi held up the appointments. Once the court ruled, Ruto re-gazetted them, and Chief Justice Martha Koome swore the team in at the Supreme Court on 11 July 2025. "My first and foremost loyalty is to the people of Kenya," Ethekon said that day.

The chair's gross pay is Sh957,000 a month, under Gazette Notice 10349 of 9 August 2023 (Table 1) from the Salaries and Remuneration Commission. Gazette Notice 9063 of 19 July 2024 kept that figure in force when it deleted a planned 2024/25 table of Sh990,000. That deleted table is the Sh990,000 the Tuko news site reported in August 2026.

His record so far

Under Ethekon the commission ran by-elections in 20 electoral areas on 27 November 2025. The Enhanced Continuous Voter Registration drive, from 30 March to 28 April 2026, signed up 2,345,476 new voters. The Ol Kalou by-election followed on 16 July 2026.

On 20 August 2026 he signed the Gazette notices that opened the 2027 election period, and said no campaigning is allowed before 29 May 2027. See the election period notice for what it binds candidates to.

He has had to knock down stories as well. On 30 July 2026 he denied reports that the IEBC wanted to end the live streaming of results. At an election security forum on 2 September he said he took the "hot seat" knowing he would not be alone. "Our appeal to the political class is to accept defeat graciously as and when it happens," he said, as The Star reported.

The disputes around him

The opposition has gone after him more than once. Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua alleged that Ethekon owned an Sh80 million house bought for him to manipulate the election, which Turkana leaders rejected. On 1 September 2026 Gachagua alleged that Ethekon and Vice-Chair Fahima Abdallah wanted to steer the election technology tender to a South Korean firm. The IEBC denied having any preferred supplier and had said on 27 August that no tender had been awarded.

The tenders themselves have run into trouble. On 3 September the procurement review board ordered the IEBC to amend and re-issue the technology hardware tender, and on 7 September the High Court stayed the ballot paper tender. The Parliamentary Budget Office put the commission's 2026/27 funding gap at Sh23.7 billion. See the IEBC's technology plan.

In August 2026 Edwin Sifuna (Senator, Nairobi) complained that Ethekon had declined to be photographed with him at a Law Society gala in Diani.

The next rulings

Ethekon's commission won an important ruling on 22 September 2026, when the High Court upheld national tallying of the presidential vote while barring the IEBC from changing constituency results. An appeal was announced the next day. The Oilmax tender case was listed for judgment on 16 October 2026. For the chair's legal limits at Bomas, see what the national tallying centre can change.