By ROSELYNE OBALA
Nairobi, Kenya: Aspirants, who defected after missing their parties’ nomination tickets before the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) deadline to submit nominee lists, might sail through.
IEBC chairman Issack Hassan said they understand this is a transition election and the IEBC might give the losers a chance.
“We are aware some parties have backdated the names and this is understandable,” he conceded.
Mr Hassan said the commission recognises that political parties are facing challenges in complying with the law. “This is evident in the recently concluded primaries. Political party systems are growing and they need time to do so,” he added.
He, however, said the commission would first recognise nominee lists presented by parties by January 21 midnight. “This is the list that is authentic and we will not make any changes,” he said. The chairman remained non-committal on what action they will take against those who defected after the deadline.
Some parties are still struggling to come up with the final line-up even after submitting their nominees’ lists. He said major parties like TNA, URP, ODM, UDF and others have furnished the commission with their lists. On accusations of being soft on parties and extending the deadline from January 18 to 2I, Hassan defended the decision, saying most parties had not completed their primaries.
“As a commission, we are guided by the law, but we exercised discretion to allow parties generate the lists,” he said. He added: “The law should also not be seen to be an obstacle in exercising democracy and giving parties a chance to have the preferred nominees.”
He said they had the option to stop parties from submitting lists after Friday last week, but decided to be fair to all. Wednesday, IEBC began arbitrating about 110 nomination disputes arising from the just concluded party primaries.
The tribunal, chaired by Commissioner Thomas Letangule, started listening to petitions filed by different aspirants against Ford-Kenya, New Ford Kenya, Wiper, United Republican Party, Kenya National Congress, Federal Party of Kenya, United Democratic Forum, Kanu, Narc and Pick.
The electoral body’s disputes resolution tribunal sitting at Milimani Law Courts is set to hear complaints by ODM and TNA aspirants today.
The tribunal adjourned its sittings to today to enable them serve all affected parties.
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