Fewer Political Parties a Good Thing?

Political parties are an important of any democracy. Political parties provide a connection between politics and society. Parties develop policy agendas, recruit and select candidates for public office, monitor the work of elected representatives and eventually form governments. However the most important function of political parties is that they ensure different choices in the political marketplace not only in terms of candidates but also in terms of ideas.

However having too many political parties is bad for democracy, they are hard to vet, monitor and keep a tab on. Before 2007 Kenya had more than 300 political parties. 168 of these were registered with the Registrar of Societies, of these parties 117 nominated candidates to run for the National Assembly in the 2007 elections. Can you imagine every voter having to go through 168 party manifestos to determine which party and which candidates hold their ideals, its no wonder voters simply chose ethnicity, and personality as deciding factors in their voting choices.

Fortunately by 2010 the number of Registered Parties was reduced to 47 by virtue of the fact that a majority of the parties registered under the lenient regieme of the Societies Act failed to meet the registration requirements of the Political Parties Act 2007. The promulgation of the constitution in 2010 and the enactment of the Political Act 2011 will probably see the numbers of political parties reduced even further.

In order to gain full registration under Section 7 of the Political Parties Act 2011 a political party must demonstrate:

• It has recruited as members, not fewer than one thousand registered voters from more than half of the countries counties;
• That its members reflect regional and ethnic diversity, gender balance and representation of minorities and marginalized groups;
• That the composition of its governing body reflects regional and ethnic diversity, gender balance and representation of minorities and marginalized groups;
• That not more than two-thirds of the members of its governing body are of the same gender; and
• That members of its governing body meet the requirements of Chapter Six of the Constitution and the laws relating to ethics;

(Full political parties compliance checklist here)

The importance of registration of political parties lies in the fact that although Article 85 of the constitution allows independent candidates to run in the next election - “Any person is eligible to stand as an independent candidate for election if the person is not a member of a registered political party and has not been a member for at least three months immediately before the date of the election.” - political parties remain the main vehicle through which candidates are elected/nominated to political office. Apart from independent candidates only members of registered political parties can stand for the general election, this underscores the importance of registration of political parties, which closes at the end of this month (April 30^th 2012).

So far out of the 47 parties registered under the 2007 Political Parties Act only 15 have submitted documents to the Registrar of parties to show compliance, and only 5 have fully complied with the requirements of the Political Parties Act 2011 and been granted full registration.

However fewer political parties may actually prove to be a good thing. Fewer political parties will be easier to vet and monitor. It will be easier for voters to determine what political parties stand for and be able to hold the political parties for proper performance of their function as political parties. Hopefully with the new legislative requirements for political parties we will begin to see a shift from political parties as an outgrowth of ethnic movements to political parties with a more national outlook leading towards better representation.

Posted by Mzalendo Editor on April 6, 2012

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