Late aspirants locked out by IEBC

[Company Disclaimer: This article has been lifted from the nation.co.ke website to appear only on the Presidential debates website]

Aspirants who presented themselves before the electoral commission outside the stipulated time had a shock of their lives when their documents were rejected.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission had set aside two days for aspirants for elective seats to present their nominations papers for clearance. Anyone who showed up past the close of business was locked out.

The presidential and senate aspirants had between May 28 and 29 to present their nominations papers to the respective returning officers.

The presidential aspirants were cleared by IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati in his capacity as the returning officer in the presidential race while those aspiring for the senate were cleared by county returning officers.

 

MCA ASPIRANTS

 

Aspirants for MCA seats were given three days, May 28, 29 and 30.

The seat had attracted a record 12,060 aspirants for the 1,450 seats across the country.

The MCA aspirants were cleared by constituency returning officers.

However, some aspirants were not keen on the deadline set by IEBC and they paid dearly when they kicked out of the race for being time barred.

Ford Kenya’s Rumia Muhamud, who had shown interest in the Nairobi senate seat, was all set to be cleared on Sunday but fell short when it was discovered that her proposer, Hassan Abdi, was not in the party’s database filed with the office of Registrar of Political Parties.

 

ANOMALY

 

County Returning Officer Eroo Mele asked her to rectify the anomaly and return on Monday before 5pm.

She came back with two proposers, but she walked into the hall at 5.30pm.

Dr Mele rejected her papers for being time barred.

Olive Wamboi had also shown interest in the Nairobi senate seat but an anomaly was detected when the signatures she submitted to support her bid as an independent candidates fell short of the 2000 threshold required.

She was required to submit an extra 500 signatures. She did, but she walked into the hall at 5.20pm and her papers were rejected as she was time barred.

What is clear though is that the challenge has been more pronounced for independents candidates as opposed to those who contesting on political parties.

IEBC has stood its ground and insisted that all aspirants must fulfil the set regulations for them to be cleared.

 

Source: Nation