Parties require support to hold fair and democratic nominations

What you need to know:

  • The Election Laws (Amendment) Act, 2016, provides that the IEBC shall, upon request, conduct and supervise the nomination of candidates by a political party for presidential, parliamentary, or county elections.
  • There is no doubt that IEBC has the capacity to conduct elections for political parties.
  • The commission will be the referee conducting party polls on one hand and on the other, the arbiter resolving disputes.
  • Political parties must now embark on genuinely recruiting members and publishing their membership lists.

Many people question the prudence of an electoral management body conducting political party primaries.

The Election Laws (Amendment) Act, 2016, provides that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) shall, upon request, conduct and supervise the nomination of candidates by a political party for presidential, parliamentary, or county elections.

The previous law said the commission may be requested to supervise party nominations and that the party making the request meets the costs.

There is no doubt that the commission has the capacity to conduct elections for political parties. In addition to the 2010 Referendum and the huge 2013 General Election, the commission has conducted several external elections such as the biennial Law Society of Kenya polls.

Political party polls, however, are challenging. The commission will be the referee conducting party polls on one hand and on the other, the arbiter resolving disputes. It will also have to accommodate the new task in the General Election timeliness and ensure that it is adequately resourced.

From an ideological perspective, it could be perceived as an unnecessary intrusion into the independence and rights of political parties. Is it tenable that IEBC referees the primaries and later do the same at the finals?

We recently sought opinion on social media if we should accept or decline invitation to hold party elections. Advice was profuse and decisive — Mr Philippe Sadjah, the secretary general of Chama Cha Uzalendo, said it would be double jeopardy for IEBC to conduct nominations for political parties and also prepare for a General Election. Many thought it was better if political parties conducted their own elections.

Others said it would be better to build the capacity of the electoral boards of political parties and let IEBC only play an advisory role and share its experience and equipment.

Credible nominations boost the internal democracy of a political party. They also build trust in the body managing it. For party elections to be successful, the register of members must be credible and well defined and the rules clear to all members and candidates.

RECRUITING MEMBERS

Political parties must now embark on genuinely recruiting members and publishing their membership lists. Parties are obligated to submit their lists to the commission at least 90 days before election day. The closing of the party-hopping window, for both voters and candidates, builds a culture of loyalty and grows ideology-based parties.

IEBC will be among the first electoral management bodies in the world to conduct party elections.

A study conducted in 2007 and published on the ACE Electoral Knowledge Network shows that situations where such organisations are legally mandated to administer internal party elections are rare.

In Ghana, for instance, the national electoral commission has taken on this role since the 2000 elections but the opportunity has only been used by a few parties.

Uruguay and Peru have the legal mandate to assist in the administration of internal party elections, while the electoral bodies of Indonesia and Nigeria play supervisory roles that include the requirement that candidates present the minutes of the meetings where they were selected. In Kenya, provisions have existed in law since 1997 for the electoral body to conduct party primaries but this has never happened in practice.

The commission is developing standard rules for conducting party primaries. These will be the guiding principles on which political parties are expected to align their internal rules and procedures.

A commonly shared view has been that political parties should practise what they preach. This view must change. It is time to reach out to political parties and support them to foster democracy and fairness. Credible party primaries have a direct effect on the commission’s mandate. They mean fewer disputes and manifest the first phase of the people’s will.

Mr Letangule is an IEBC commissioner. [email protected]