Post-election disputes and what they say about our democracy

As August draws near and the fiasco that followed after various political parties' elections boards and appeals tribunals mishandled appeals, the disputes that followed are still fresh in voters' memories. There is no doubt that the neanderthal manner in which political parties' conducted their nominations has not only cast doubt on the reliability of Kenya's primary electoral system, but will have serious ramifications for the grand finale.

The manner in which political parties nominees were picked varies by party and region, but nobody has come out to dispute the fact that several nominations suffered the lack of safeguards to root out the appearance of partisanship. This doubt is bad for democracy and partly explains why as a country, we can't avoid post-election disputes.