Primaries pose huge challenge to IEBC

Many people question the prudence of an electoral management body conducting political party primaries.

The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2016, which has already been approved by Parliament and the Senate, provides that IEBC shall, upon the request of a political party, conduct and supervise the nomination of candidates by the political party for presidential, parliamentary or county elections in accordance with Article 88 of the Constitution. The new law, as crafted, mandates IEBC to honour such requests.

The previous law (Election Act 2011), which applied in 2013, said the commission may be requested to supervise party nominations of candidates. It also made it clear that the party making the request meets the costs.

There is no doubt that the commission has the capacity to conduct elections for political parties. In addition to the 2010 referendum and the huge 2013 General Election, the commission has conducted several external elections such as the biennial Law Society of Kenya elections.

Political party polls, however, are challenging. The commission will be the referee conducting party polls on one hand and on the other the arbitrator resolving disputes. It will also have to accommodate the new task on the General Election timeliness and ensure it is adequately resourced.

From an ideological perspective, it could also be perceived as an unnecessary intrusion into the independence and the rights of political parties. Is it tenable that IEBC referees the primaries and later on do the same at the finals?

We recently sought opinion on social media if we should accept or decline invitation to hold party elections. Advice was profuse and decisive - No. Mr Philippe Sadjah, the Secretary General Chama Cha Uzalendo (CCU) Party, said it would be double jeopardy for IEBC to conduct nominations for political parties and also prepare for a General Election. Many thought it was better if political parties conducted their own elections.

Others with thoughts similar to Mr Sadjah say the best thing to do is build the capacity of the electoral boards of political parties and let IEBC only do some advisory role and share experience and equipment.

Credible party nominations boost internal democracy of a political party. They also build trust in the body managing it. For successful conduct of party elections, the register of members must be credible and well defined and the rules clear to all members and candidates before hand.

Political parties must now embark on genuinely recruiting members and publicising their membership lists. Parties are obligated to submit their lists to IEBC at least 90 days to the election day. The closing of party hopping window, to both voters and candidates, builds a culture of party loyalty and grows ideology-based parties.

IEBC will be among the first Electoral Management Bodies (EMBs) in the world to conduct party elections. A study conducted in 2007 and published on the ACE Electoral Knowledge Network shows that situations where EMBs are legally mandated to administer internal party elections are rare. In Ghana, the national EMB has taken on this role since the 2000 elections. However, the opportunity has only been used by a few parties.

Uruguay and Peru have a legal mandate to assist in the administration of internal party elections, while EMBs of Indonesia and Nigeria play supervisory roles. In Kenya, provisions existed in law since 1997 for the electoral body to conduct party primaries but it never happened in practice.

The commission is developing standard rules for conducting party primaries. The rules will be the guiding principles on which political parties are expected to align their rules and procedures.

A commonly shared view has been that political parties should practice what they preach. This view must change. It is time to reach out to political parties and to support them foster democracy and fairness. Credible party primaries have direct effect on the IEBC’s mandate. They mean fewer disputes and they manifest the first phase of the people’s will. These are the ideals and aspirations IEBC exists for and is in constant pursuit for.