We Will See Final Party Lists Any Time Soon?

Saying that the political party primaries were marred by irregularities would be an understatement. We have seen some political parties completely ignore the results of the party primaries and resort to a system of direct nominations citing the need for regional balance. Of course this begs the question, what was the reason for the party primaries in the first place, why not just have direct nominations?

Political parties have included the names of incumbents who lost in the primaries in their list of direct nominees to parliament, much to the disdain and annoyance of voters who signaled their disapproval of certain candidates by choosing to vote them out. Women aspirants faced considerable harassment during the primaries without a word from party leadership, and some of those who won were promptly pushed aside by parties in favor of male candidates.

There have seen 11^th hour defections from aspirants who lost the primaries in their initial party of choice. In some instances political parties issued multiple nomination certificates to different aspirants and those are just the irregularities that were made public. In short the party primaries have been a shambles, so much so that the treasury has said in the next elections, 2017, it will fund the IEBC to carry out the political party primaries.

According to Finance Minister Njeru Githae “It is now clear that the Treasury must take a proactive stand on this issue. It is no longer a party issue. Our political parties do not have the management capacity to conduct free, fair and credible elections,” a damning indictment to political parties.

Internal party politics means it could be a while before we see the final party lists. Even though the IEBC has settled the 200+ disputes that arose from party primaries, it did so in just 2 days. Aspirants dissatisfied with the IEBC’s verdict on their cases have currently filed cases with the High Court to have their disputes re-opened and then resolved a new. And until the High Court resolves these issues it will be difficult to know what the final party lists look like.

Capital FM News has released a provisional list of political party nominees (see here). Despite the that it is only 30 days to the next election; that the party primaries where conducted more than 10 days ago; that the IEBC has already ruled on 200+ party primary disputes; and that the IEBC is already receiving nomination papers from prospective candidates (see here), it will probably be while before we see final party lists.

So where did things go wrong?

Could it be when the 10^th Parliament began to play fast and loose with the Election Act and the Political Parties Act. The now former members of parliament changed the date that aspirants were allowed to party hop not once, not twice but three times.

The former parliamentarians also postpone the date by which parties had to submit final party lists. And in response to the postponement of this date political parties changed the date on which they were to hold their primaries to the last possible minute before they had to submit party list to try and late avoid defections.

As a consequence the IEBC only had a limited time in which to resolve political party primary disputes. In the short time between the party nomination, dispute resolution, and the next election, it seems that the IEBC will also have little time to sanction parties in which the irregularities occurred.

Does anyone every wondered what would have if the parliamentarian had not tampered with the Election and Political Parties Act?

What are your thoughts on the political party primaries?

Posted by Mzalendo Editor on Feb. 5, 2013

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