NAIROBI, Kenya Oct 1 – Registrar of Political Parties Anne Nderitu is urging political parties participating in the 2022 general election to consider holding their party nominations on a single day to tame party hopping by aspirants.
Speaking during a consultation forum between the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and the Political Parties Liaison Committee, Nderitu expressed concerns that the rate of defections her office has been processing is likely to weaken political parties.
She noted that over 100 people had switched from one political party to vie as independent candidates.
“The ORPP urges to have all nominations done at the same time to limit the window for defection,” she observed.
The parties registrar urged the IEBC to provide clarity on the timeline for nominations by political parties.
“Political Parties signatories to clear certificates must be harmonized to reduce the number of disputes. IEBC may not have time and resources to verify the certificates presented before them by political parties,” Nderitu stated.
In line with the packed elections calendar released in June, political party primaries are slated to be conducted between April 16 and April 22. Names of the candidates to participate in the party primaries must have been submitted by April 9.
The Commission will then gazette the names by April 16.
Moreover, nominations for institutions such as the Senate will be held from May 30 to June 2,2022, the National Assembly May 30 to June 1, County Woman Representative June 3-6, Governor nominations June 10 and Members of County Assembly from June 2-10.
Nominations for presidential candidates will take place between May 30 and June 10 next year.
By June 20, the list of all nominated candidates will be ready.
Nderitu further noted that the country currently has 75 fully registered political parties and 10 parties have applied for registration.
Another 22 have provisional certificates and are in the processing of finalizing the registration process.
