Jubilee won’t alter party nominations date

The Jubilee Party on Wednesday said that its planned nominations in 20 counties including Nairobi will go on as scheduled despite an order allowing parties to conduct primaries until Sunday.

However, the party National Elections Board chairman Andrew Musangi said the final decision could only be made by the logistics team.

Deputy President William Ruto is keenly monitoring the process as sources close to the party said he camped for the fourth day running at the Jubilee headquarters, monitoring the deployment of election materials and live reports from the various counties.

The DP, who is also the deputy party leader, was in the party headquarters from early morning and stayed late into the night, while on Monday, he spent about eight hours, leaving a few minutes to 10pm.

GRUELLING NOMINATIONS

“Our nominations timetable remains as scheduled, but we remain dynamic and will adjust to any advice from the logistics team,” Mr Musangi said in a press briefing at the party headquarters.

On Wednesday, the party will hold gruelling nominations in Nairobi, Marsabit, Turkana, Samburu, Murang’a, Trans Nzoia, Tharaka-Nithi, Meru, Nakuru, Nyeri, Laikipia, Nyandarua and Taita-Taveta.

The party will also hold nominations in Marsabit, Turkana, Samburu, and Murang’a.

Mr Musangi also said it had moved to today its scheduled primaries in Mt Elgon constituency, following an agreement with aspirants after complaints of inadequate ballot papers.

IDENTITY CARDS

On Tuesday, the party defended its decision to allow every Kenyan with an identity card to vote in its nominations, even after the electoral team ordered parties to use their own registers.

“Everything else for us is secondary,” Mr Musangi said of the worry that using national IDs could invalidate the nominations.

“As long as you are a Kenyan with a valid ID, you should be able to vote. We do not intend to disenfranchise anyone,” he said.

Mr Musangi also said apart from the ink in someone’s finger after voting, the party had no other mechanism to block one from voting in more than one county.

“We are putting checks in place. There are inks we put on people’s fingers. Unless you are willing to chop off your finger.”