Independent candidate option shunned

By Lillian Aluanga-Delvaux

With just five months to the March General Election, political parties are swarming with record numbers of aspirants seeking elective positions.

But as dozens flock party offices in search of sometimes elusive tickets, an option provided by the new Constitution appears to be attracting relatively less attention. 

Under the Constitution, individuals seeking to be president, governor, senator, MP, county women’s representative, and county assembly members can vie for the positions as independent candidates.

While the option is free of the requisite allegiance to a political party, and by extension its leader, it appears to present unique challenges that may explain why it may not be a popular.

“It’s still a new concept. Running as an independent candidate is like vying on an unpopular party ticket given that our political parties are organised in a way that is highly personalised and ethnicised,” says Kenyatta University lecturer Edward Kisiang’ani.

Kisiang’ani says running as an Independent in, say, a region like Nyanza, where ODM is popular, or Central, where TNA is now the party of choice, could be viewed as being  ‘against’ the dominant party and narrow an individual’s chances of winning.

While pointing to financial constraints and resource mobilisation as challenges facing independent candidates, University of Nairobi lecturer Karuti Kanyinga remains optimistic the option may catch the attention of professionals seeking positions such as governorship.

“We have many professionals seeking the position of governor that may find it hard to get through to parties that have their ‘owners’. We are likely to find independent candidates in areas that have no major presidential candidate or dominant political party,” says Dr Kanyinga. But he, too, admits it would take time for the public to internalise the idea of independent candidates.

Political party

“People have for a long time never known of a political seat without a political party,” says Kanyinga, a lecturer at the Institute of Development Studies.

It has also been argued that while political parties enjoy vast networks that can mobilise resources and galvanise support, the same cannot be said of independent candidates.

Under the new electoral laws, political parties are entitled to public funding but the same provision is not extended to independents. They also do not qualify for a share of nomination seats since political parties present lists of nominees to such seats to the Elections body.

“Political parties have a certain infrastructure at the local level that enables one reach more people. The infrastructure required however makes it an expensive venture for an individual running as an independent candidate,” says Kanyinga.

Sponsorship, says Kisiang’ani, also plays a crucial role in raising funds to run a campaign, with donors preferring to deal with groups (in this case political parties) as opposed to an individual.

Women’s Political Alliance-Kenya chair Daisy Amdany says the organisation is yet to record any aspirants that has settled on running as an Independent, but that some have shown interest in knowing what this means.

Amdany, who is also the Executive Director of the Community Advocacy and Awareness Trust (Crawn) cites requirements of the Elections Act that may be ‘steep’ for those seeking elective positions as Independent candidates.

“The threshold for being an independent candidate is quite high regardless of what seat one is running for. For instance those going for positions at the County Assembly level must have at least 500 supporters in their respective Ward. These supporters must be registered voters and should not be members of any political party,” she says.

At the constituency level, where aspirants will be seeking to join the national assembly, that number rises to 1,000, and 2,000 for those seeking governor or senator positions. Persons seeking the presidency as independent candidates must prove they have at least 2,000 supporters in at least half of the 47 counties.

Political networks

“Political parties have networks, but as an independent one must be a strong candidate, with a long stay in the political arena, to meet such criteria,” she says.

Institute for Education and Democracy’s Executive Director Peter Aling’o, however, says it would be premature for any aspirant, at this point, to openly declare they were going into the election as Independents.

“What is happening now is ‘political psycho testing’ where people are testing ground and playing to political psyche. But once we get to the nomination stage where political party lineups are clear then there may be more movement towards this area,” he says. The aspect of Independent candidates, he says, is more evident in mature democracies where its part of democratic   growth and political pluralism.

Kisiang’ani, however, says that while this is a true, Independent candidate elsewhere in US and Western Europe have had limited impact in the country’s national politics as compared to political parties.

“Such individuals must pick on issues that resonate with the public to get support across the board. They may for instance choose to champion an environmental cause or fight against corruption,” he says.

But he is optimistic independent candidates will stand a better chance if the country shifts from ethnic based to issue oriented politics.

Past elections have seen candidates switch from ‘bigger and more popular’ parties to relatively unknown parties after controversial nominations.

Candidates in some instances have won the seats as exemplified by Mogotio MP Hellen Sambili, who triumphed in the 2007 election on a UDM ticket in what was then considered an ODM zone.

Others include Kathiani MP Wavinya Ndeti, who won on a Chama Cha Uzalendo ticket in the then ODM-K zone, William Kabogo (Sisi Kwa Sisi) and Cyrus Jirongo (Kaddu).