Chebukati: Political parties bill hurts poll timelines

Main Categories



img

Chebukati: Political parties bill hurts poll timelines

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission chairman has said the Political Parties (Amendment) Bill will interfere with the August general election timelines.

In the submissions that could delay the passage of the bill, Chebukati cited flaws that threaten the commission's mandate. This, however, comes as Registrar of Political parties (RPP) Anne Nderitu supported the bill.

 The IEBC and RPP yesterday submitted their views to the Senate Justice, Legal Affairs, and Human Rights Committee that has for the past two days been conducting public participation on the bill.
 
The nine-member committee is chaired by Nyamira Senator Okong’o Omogeni. It retreated to a location outside Nairobi for report writing before tabling it at a Senate special sitting next week.

“We received submissions from 25 organisations,” Omogeni said.

Chebukati objected to the amendment of clause nine that seeks to have parties submit the coalition agreement to the RPP 120 days before the polls.

“The timelines are not committed to the electoral timelines because the commission is required to review nomination rules of any party participating in an election six months before nominations,” Chebukati said.

“At what time does the commission review nomination rules of a coalition party?”

The chairman also raised concerns with clause five of the bill that amends the principal Act to increase the period for provisionally registered political parties to be fully registered.

The clauses increase the period from the current 120 days from the date of issuance of a provisional registration certificate to 270.

Chebukati said the proposed timelines do not align with the election timelines, which require political parties to have submitted their nomination rules six months before the nomination of their candidates. This would lock out the participation of provisionally registered parties.





  • Reviews (0)
Click Category for articles...

Leave a review/opinion

To leave a review/opinion, please login to your account. Login