IEBC to meet parties officials over election matters
IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati addresses a press conference on election preparedness, at the agency's office in Nairobi on May 10, 2017. At least 13,296 nominees had been presented to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission for scrutiny. PHOTO | DENNIS ONSONGO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- As at Saturday, the 2017 aspirants were already 531 more than the 12,765 that ran in the March 2013 elections.
- Mr Limo said only aspirants whose cases were still before the tribunal would be considered for late delivery.
The run-up to the August 8 elections started in earnest on Saturday after political parties presented their final list of candidates to the electoral commission.
By 4pm, names of 13,296 nominees — 8,346 from political parties and 4,950 aspiring to run as independent candidates — had been presented to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission for scrutiny.
As at Saturday, the 2017 aspirants were already 531 more than the 12,765 that ran in the March 2013 elections.
ELECTION TIMELINES
Tomorrow, the commission will meet the representatives from each of the 68 political parties aspiring to field candidates in the August polls to iron out issues on the lists and discuss the election timelines.
IEBC had asked the parties to upload the data onto its system by midnight, five days after the legal May 10 deadline to allow for the determination of 210 cases that had been filed at the Political Parties Disputes Tribunal.
“Please ensure that you upload your party candidates on the Candidates Registration and Management System (CRMS) before Sunday midnight deadline,” a text message sent to all parties on Saturday said.
DATA ACCURACY
The system, one of its kind that allows parties to upload pictures and names of candidates while tallying the number of candidates that have already been received, was used in 2013 to list 12,765 candidates who were interested in the 1,882 positions on offer.
“The CRMS ensures that primary data on candidates nominated by political parties are entered in a format that makes it easy for IEBC to verify the accuracy of the candidate details, compliance and generate ballot paper proofs,” a description of the system on the IEBC website says.
It adds: “This is achieved by cross-matching the voters register and political party register. Inconsistencies in the data submitted by political parties have posed a challenge on processing of ballot proofs like mix up of photos.”
EXCEPTION
Today, IEBC communications manager Andrew Limo said only aspirants whose cases were still before the tribunal would be considered for late delivery, and that is if they write a letter attaching the petitions to the agency.
“Aspirants whose fate is yet to be decided by the tribunal will have to write to IEBC before the end of the day so that they are considered,” Mr Limo said.
“We shall not accept more names from political parties that did not forward the names on time.”
PENDING CASES
In Kisii, Senator Chris Obure, who is seeking the governor seat on a Jubilee ticket, asked IEBC to consider aspirants whose fate was yet to be decided by the tribunal.
“There is nothing the party or the aspirants can do when a case is still pending in court. All we can do is request the electoral body to extend the timelines,” Mr Obure said.
Others aspirants whose cases are yet to be decided by the tribunal are MPs Zebedeo Opore (Bonchari), Simon Ogari (Bomachoge Chache) and Jimmy Angwenyi (Kitutu Chache North).
