MPs to determine next elections date

The date for the next General Election will be determined by MPs on the floor of Parliament.

This means that President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who were handed the task by the High Court, have passed the ball to MPs given the sensitivity of the elections date. (Read: Raila: Fear not over election date)

On Wednesday, Mr Odinga told the House that because of the importance of the next elections, the two principals were not ready to take an arbitrary decision in a closed room.

He said a Bill would soon be tabled in the House to give members chance to decide the date.

“We feel election is too important to be left to the discretion of the principals and should involve the National Assembly. As such, we will be bringing a Bill to this House so that members can debate and participate in fixing the date of elections once and for all,” he said.

The decision by the President and the PM comes in the wake of a recent High Court ruling, which stated that the next General Election could be held at the end of this year if the two principals agree to dissolve the coalition government.

Alternatively, the three-judge bench said the elections could be held in March next year after the term of the current Parliament ends in mid January 2013.

Mr Odinga was addressing the National Assembly during the Prime Minister’s time.

The position taken by the President and the PM comes at a time the civil society, clergy and the umbrella workers’ union have been asking the two principals to name the elections date.

Already, Cabinet has approved a Bill to amend the Constitution, seeking to switch the elections date permanently from the second Tuesday in August in every fifth year as stipulated in the Constitution to the third Monday in December of such a year.

The Bill has already gone through the First Reading in the House.