The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has said it will keenly scrutinise party lists submitted to it ahead of next year's elections to ensure they comply with the two-thirds gender principle.
Commissioner Ann Nderitu said the commission intends to ensure that political parties' lists meet the minimum gender requirement, as part of increasing the number of women on the ballot papers.
As the country gears towards the next general elections, she said there should be heightened mobilisation for more women to seek elective seats, even as the push for a law to govern the gender principle continues.
She said political parties hold the stick in picking candidates and insisted on the need for serious negotiations so that they nominate women for areas where they are likely to have people elected.
According to Nderitu, this is derived from the fact that political parties have their stronghold and giving women a chance will also increase the possibility of being elected.
“We negotiate with parties that, through affirmative action, they indirectly nominate women for some areas, so that we can have some affirmative action from political parties. Our proposal as IEBC is that any list of candidates that comes to the electoral commission should meet at least the threshold of two-thirds,” Nderitu said.
“This way, we can increase the numbers on the ballot paper, and it becomes a compliance issue. That if you bring a list of candidates, at least, they must have a third of either gender. We tried last time; this time we hope that we shall succeed,” she added.
She made the remarks during a forum organised by the National Gender and Equality Commission (NGEC), attended by, among them, Kenya Women Parliamentary Association (KEWOPA), Kenya Women Senators Association (KEWOSA), UN Women and constitutional commissions to deliberate on practical mechanisms for advancing the implementation of the constitutional gender principle.
“As the country gears towards the next general election, it is important that apart from the bills, we make attempts to try and bring as many women to the ballot papers as possible before the law is enacted,” Nderitu insisted.
This came as the institutions in attendance piled pressure on Parliament to ensure a law is enacted to give effect to the requirements of the Constitution.
Currently, there are two bills in the Senate, the first one being the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill sponsored by Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot.
The second one is in the National Assembly, the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2025, sponsored by MPs Gladys Boss (Uasin Gishu Woman Representative), Jane Kagiri (Laikipia Woman Representative) and Beatrice Elachi (Dagoretti North), currently before the National Assembly.
The joint bill, among other issues, seeks to give effect to the two-thirds gender principle through the creation of special seats that will ensure the principle is realised in Parliament and proposes to amend Articles 90, 97 and 98 of the Constitution.
Similarly, the proposed Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026 could push political parties into one of their toughest nomination exercises yet, in the wake of electoral reforms seeking to implement the elusive two-thirds gender rule.
The law seeks to compel them to field more women in next year’s election and, should it come to pass, every political party could be required to ensure that no more than two-thirds of its parliamentary candidates are of the same gender, and this could change how parties ready their tickets.
NGEC Chief Executive Officer Purity Ngina insisted that the calls are not about women going against men but scrutinising how the country gives meaning to a constitutional promise.
She said voters make a conscious decision to vote for either a man or woman, which means each voter exercises an individual constitutional right, but after the votes are counted and tallied, the numbers in the National Assembly or Senate do not meet the constitutional threshold.
“It is precisely why we must have this conversation. The Constitution protects my right to choose my representative, and at the same time, Article 27 (8) requires the State to take legislative and other measures to implement the principle that not more than two-thirds of the members of the elective or appointed bodies shall be of the same gender.”
She said the question should not be whether a Kenyan should be denied the right to vote according to their conscience but whether, after exercising this right and the composition of the Senate and National Assembly is known, the mechanisms that the State puts in place to give effect to Article 27 (8) are met.
“We should not place that responsibility on the individual voter but on the State in accordance with the Constitution, and that is why I believe the Bill allows us to have an honest national conversation about how we give effect to that Article. It is not about women against men but giving meaning to a constitutional promise that we made to ourselves in 2010,” she explained.
Gender Cabinet Secretary Hanna Wendot said the government is seeking to achieve the two-thirds principle, as she made reference to proposals developed by a multi-sectoral working group.
In 2024, she said the Ministry submitted to Parliament a report and draft legislative proposals on changes to the Constitution, the Elections Act and the Political Parties Act.
The proposals contained a top-up mechanism for the National Assembly and Senate similar to the system already provided for county assemblies, in addition to providing a way of addressing any gender deficit after election results have been declared.
On her part, NGEC chairperson Rehema Jaldesa said the conversation on gender principle has been held far too long and in every election cycle without yielding much to guarantee compliance.
She referred to earlier attempts in Parliament when the country was close to achieving the threshold but ultimately failed.
“During the time, we still lost it. And I said, how do I come and face Kenyans, women, and start discussing two-thirds again? Isn’t it fatiguing? Are you not as tired as me?” she said.
The MPs also encouraged women aspirants to work towards winning elective seats by picking parties that are popular in a certain locality, saying it is one of the sure ways to increase their numbers.
