The ballots without Mutula Jr’s name are due to arrive in Kenya from the UK on Wednesday afternoon, but a meeting of the parties in the case was deadlocked on the way forward/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 24 – The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission is facing a major dilemma with just 48 hours to the Makueni Senate by-election, over the manner in which Mutula Kilonzo Jr’s name will appear on the ballot.
The problem stems from the fact that the IEBC went ahead and printed ballot papers before the High Court ruled on the exclusion of Kethi Kilonzo from the vote. IEBC appears to have overlooked the possibility of Wiper getting the opportunity to replace her.
The ballots without Mutula Jr’s name are due to arrive in Kenya from the UK on Wednesday afternoon, but a meeting of the parties in the case was deadlocked on the way forward.
Whereas Wiper argues that superimposing Mutula Jr details in the ballot would disadvantage him since the stickers might fall off, his rivals argue that it would give him undue advantage since his name will appear prominently, if details are superimposed.
They say it also creates room for petitions after the poll.
The IEBC on its part insists on using the ballots with superimposed details, saying it will be required to print 300,000 ballots locally between now and Friday – after a mandatory tendering process.
More to follow…
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With a decade of storytelling under her belt, Olive Burrows has been with Capital FM for the last four years and perhaps most notably interviewed US President Barack Obama. Committed to asking the hard questions and telling the story in the most engaging way possible, she has also interviewed Melinda Gates, a UK Minister and severally had the opportunity to sit across from President Uhuru Kenyatta and address the pressing issues of the day. Other notables she has had occasion to seek answers from are UN Secretary General António Guterres and John Kerry in his time as US Secretary of State.