NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 27 – The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) is set to hold consultative talks with the Jubilee Party (JP) and National Super Alliance (NASA) as part of its preparations for the October 26 repeat presidential election.
The meeting scheduled to take place at the Bomas of Kenya was called by IEBC Chairperson Wafula Chebukati following a heated debate between the rival camps on how the fresh election should be managed.
We are looking forward to the meeting with Jubilee and Nasa today10.30am at Bomas of Kenya.
— IEBC (@IEBCKenya) September 27, 2017
While NASA has identified twelve “irreducible minimums” which have to be met before the poll is conducted, JP has countered the demands terming them as unrealistic and irrational.
Among demands by the Opposition alliance include the exit of IEBC Chief Executive Officer, Ezra Chiloba, who NASA has accused of bungling the August 8 presidential election annulled by the Supreme Court on September 1.
On Tuesday, planned NASA demos against IEBC officials it wants to quit before the fresh poll is conducted ended in an anticlimax after NASA leader Raila Odinga, his three co-principals, and parliamentarians allied to the alliance failed to join their supporters in the protests.
The alliance has also maintained a hard-line position on its participation in consultative meetings with IEBC demanding that its list of demands be met before it honours invitations to such forums.
It still remains unclear if NASA will send representatives to the meeting.
On the other hand, JP has maintained that it can only take part in such meetings in the presence of their rivals – NASA – the ruling party has nothing to hide.
According to Article 140 (3) of the Constitution, IEBC has sixty days from the date the presidential election was nullified to conduct a fresh election.
The commission has already set out critical timelines leading to the October 26 date identified for the election, having vacated an earlier date (October 17) citing the need for time to make adequate preparations for the new election.
IEBC intends to reorganize its Results Transmission System and management mechanism to comply with Supreme Court orders which found the commission’s result transmission to have been out of synch with the Constitution and election regulations.
The court did nonetheless impute no criminal culpability on any IEBC official for the misdoings it found to have compromised the integrity of the August 8 presidential election results.