Head of the Jubilee Secretariat Raphael Tuju told Capital FM News that a meeting held last Tuesday resolved that IEBC will offer technical and advisory assistance to ensure the party’s nominations are credible/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 2 – The Jubilee Party was on Thursday working on a Memorandum of Understanding to specify ways and extent to which the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) will get involved in its party primaries.
Head of the Jubilee Secretariat Raphael Tuju told Capital FM News that a meeting held last Tuesday resolved that IEBC will offer technical and advisory assistance to ensure the party’s nominations are credible.
To guide the partnership formerly, Jubilee was asked to come up with the MoU that will become the basis of their engagement.
“We are working on an MoU. We want to benefit from IEBC’s expertise and to do what is acceptable within the law,” Tuju explained recalling the agreements reached between the six-member team comprising IEBC and Jubilee officials.
He explained that Jubilee will request the Commission to examine its nomination systems to ensure the process meets the highest levels of credibility and equal participation of all its members and candidates.
Other areas it will include in the MoU will be to request the Commission to guide the party to set up its polling stations and provide it with ballot boxes to guarantee distribution of materials and locations are done according to concentration of its members.
“We will ask IEBC to interrogate the instruments we will be using, to help us know for example, at what stage do we declare a polling station credible,” he stated.
IEBC’s expertise will further be required especially where the level of participation of Jubilee candidates will be high.
“Extent of IEBC’s engagement during the party primaries will also depend on how fiercely the seat is contested. There are some areas with five or more contestants, we will require less of its involvement in areas not so competitive,” he explained.
Tuju also stated that Jubilee Party already submitted its party nomination rules though it initiated minor amendments that were presented to the Commission before Thursday’s deadline.
The National Elections Board of the Orange Democratic Movement also said it submitted its nominations rules to the electoral commission on January 25.
All political parties planning to take part in the August 8 General Election are required to furnish the Commission with their nomination rules before close of business Thursday.
The next key timeline for the parties will be between March 26 and April 5 when they will be required to submit names of candidates for party primaries.
From April 13 to April 26, the parties will be required to conduct their nominations as per the IEBC timelines.
About The Author
