Cord parties to hold joint nominations

Parties affiliated to the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (Cord) will conduct joint nominations on January 17 that will be overseen by a board appointed by the alliance’s partners.

The nominations will be conducted across the country and participating candidates sponsored by the parties forming the coalition will face-off in the contest expected to be fierce especially in areas considered Cord’s strongholds.

On Saturday, the coalition said it had decided to hold joint nominations in the spirit of togetherness after “exhaustive consultations among its members and its various coalition management organs".

Announcing the decision, the alliance’s chairman Dalmas Otieno outlined 10 points that will guide the process and avert challenges and fallouts. Among the points is the insistence of the use of a secret ballot system during nominations, the place where results will be counted and announced, reasons for disqualification and the persons allowed to take part in the exercise.

“We would like to make our nominations as fair as possible. We are assuring aspirants that we will put in place a free and fair nomination process,” said David Musila, Cord’s co-chairman during a news conference at Serena Hotel, Nairobi.

Voters will be given a ballot paper containing all aspirants vying for each of the positions: governor, senator, MP, women representative and county assembly representative.

“For avoidance of doubt, the names of all candidates for each position shall appear in one common ballot paper clearly indicating the name and symbol of sponsoring party,” said the new guidelines.

Voting will begin at 8am and close at 5pm at polling stations to be indentified by the coalition’s elections board within the next seven days.

The alliance bringing together Orange Democratic Movement, the Wiper Democratic Movement, Ford-Kenya and other smaller parties also asked voters interested in the primaries to carry along the document they used to register with the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) last year.

Mr Musila said Cord will use the IEBC register to mark those who will turn out to vote.

“One should come with either a national ID or the passport whichever document they registered with IEBC,” he said.

Mr Otieno said Cord Elections Board chaired by Roads minister Franklin Bett had been mandated to ensure the process was free and fair and the outcome were satisfactory to all the participants.

The minister, recently appointed ODM’s election’s board chairman, will be assisted by Sammy Mbova (vice-chairman), Ezekiel Wafula (secretary) and members Everett Wasike, Judy Pareno, Roy Mutisya and Mary Muhuhu.

Cord, whose presidential candidate is Prime Minister Raila Odinga, his running mate Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka, also warned aspirants who will participate in elections malpractices that they will be disqualified.

“The board has been mandated to expressly disqualify any candidate who engages in or sponsors in any way violence prior, during or after the nominations.

"The board will also appoint all the officials to conduct the nominations including clerks, retuning and presiding officers."