NAIROBI, Kenya, May 23 – Eleven presidential candidate have been barred from contesting in the August 9 polls after they failed to present their running mates by the stipulated deadline.
This was revealed by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairman Wafula Chebukati during a pre-nomination meeting where he stated that they failed to present the names by May 16.
IEBC had listed 55 presidential aspirants for the pre-nomination exercise which now leaves 44 aspirants awaiting to be cleared.
“Eleven presidential candidates did not submit the names of their running mates by May 16 this year,” Chebukati stated.
Of the 55 presidential aspirants, 14 are political parties’ flag bearers, one from a coalition party and the remaining 40 being independent candidates.
IEBC directed all presidential aspirants to present 2,000 signatures from at least 24 counties as pre-nomination requirement by close of business on Monday if they intend to be cleared for the race.
Chebukati stated that this will enable the poll body to commence the verification exercise before the August 9 polls.
The registration of the candidates to contest for various elective seats, will run from May 29 to June 7.
“By the end of today all candidates should have submitted the signatures supporting their candidacy,” Chebukati stated.
The IEBC Chair made the announcement in a meeting attended by representatives for different presidential aspirants.
Azimio coalition presidential flag bearer Raila Odinga was represented by lawyer Paul Mwangi.
Deputy President William Ruto on the other end was represented by the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party secretary general Veronica Maina.
Also present was Wiper Party presidential candidate Kalonzo Musyoka running mate Andrew Sunkuli and the party secretary general Shakila Abdalla.
Even as the pre-nomination exercise is set to commence today independent aspirants have raised concern on new conditions requiring them to collect signatures and copies of national identity cards of their supporters.
They argued that the requirement doesn’t give them a levelled playing field as compared to their counterparts.
“We will do a comparison of the ID copy and name of the person signing for an aspirant. Where there shall be a shortfall of signatures, after IEBC verification, the commission will give more time to get the required signatures,” Chebukati said.
Further, the commission has directed presidential aspirants with foreign degrees to first obtain certification from the commission of university education as a nomination requirement.
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