Ten new election rules you must know before Kenya’s 2017 polls

Businessman Yasser Bajaber (right) addresses Mombasa University students at Khamis High School’s hall in Mombasa County on Saturday when he launched his bid for the Senate seat on a Ford Kenya ticket. With him is the party’s deputy leader Boni Khalwale. [PHOTO: MAARUFU MOHAMED/STANDARD]

NAIROBI: Big losers in political party primaries could still find their way into Parliament through nominations.

It has emerged that the elections law was amended to remove a requirement that restricted politicians contesting in party nominations from having their names included in the party list.

The new law banned party hopping, but MPs pushed to open up the party list to losers of primaries. Party hopping was just one of the wide range of electoral reforms including a fine of Sh1 million or six-year jail term for employers who do not give employees reasonable time to participate in elections.

According to the law, politicians who use public officers to force any person to back a candidate or a political party will be fined Sh10 million or serve a six-year jail term. To help more women in power, 15 per cent of parties fund will be distributed among parties based on number of elected special interest candidates.

It also states that party membership lists will be submitted 90 days to elections and only members of a party can vote for candidates in a primary. The number of voters per polling station is limited to 500.

Under the previous law, parties submitted the party list to the electoral commission before they nominated candidates to contest for positions in the National Assembly, Senate and County Assembly. But political parties will not be required to submit their party lists-names of those to be nominated should a party secure slots-at least 45 days to the General Election.

Given another change altered the period for parties to conduct primaries from at least 45 days to at least 60 days before a General Election, it opens a window for nomination losers to be included in the party list.

A senior leader of one coalition acknowledged that the need to "reward" big losers influenced the amendment essentially intended to offer a soft landing.

"If two serious candidates compete for party nominations and one loses by a small margin, there should be a way to reward them," he said.

Offering another route to Parliament for such losers is even more critical now especially after the ruling coalition narrowed the options for politicians with the merger of 13 parties into Jubilee Party.

That means the party primaries will be more hotly contested because those who miss the ticket of the party where it is most popular effectively will be out in the cold for five years.

The chance for nomination to Parliament - although the slots are based on the party's performance in elections - would be a welcome relief for some.

The Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) is also considering joint nominations, which, again, means losers in primaries who are in good books with party chiefs would expect to thereafter be included in party lists.

President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto recently closed ranks with Opposition chief Raila Odinga to ensure that losers in nominations can no longer defect to other parties.

The new changes also blocked such losers from running as Independent candidates.

Anyone wishing to run as an independent must submit their name to the electoral commission at least 90 days to election- a month earlier than the party nominations.

Some leaders like ODM's Timothy Bosire (Kitutu Masaba) and Nicholas Gumbo (Rarieda) still regret the ban on party hopping.

"Legislating too much on democracy will stifle fundamental freedoms, including the freedom of choice of leaders," said Bosire.

"We must first ensure that internal party democracy is strengthened before we can legislate on party hopping," said Mr Gumbo.

Internal Democracy

It is that grumbling about internal democracy that now seems to have landed opposition MPs who defected to the ruling coalition in trouble.

An amendment to the Political Parties Act this year essentially shielded members of parties that merged to Jubilee Party from losing their seats as they automatically became members of the new party.

But it has emerged that protection does not extend to rebel opposition leaders who now risk losing their seats should their expulsion from parties that sponsored them to Parliament be concluded.

And for a coalition to field candidates, it must be registered as a party, which means for CORD to present a presidential candidate under its name on the ballot paper, it must be listed as a party.

"CORD is in the process of registration and once that is done, aspirants can vie on CORD ticket as a registered political party and not as a coalition," explained Registrar of Political Parties Lucy Ndung'u.

Yesterday, Suna East MP Junet Mohammed said ODM would not agree to a situation where CORD is registered as a political party to only field a presidential candidate.

"If CORD is not going to field candidates for all seats, from MCA all the way up to the presidency, then there is no need to register it as a political party to only present a joint presidential candidate. Let us remain as a coalition and the affiliate parties individually field their own candidates," Mr Junet said.

Parties that dissolved will also have their assets taken over by the new Jubilee Party.