SHOCK AS IEBC BLACKLISTS THE FOLLOWING POLITICAL PARTIES

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission has said 10 political parties have failed to meet compliance rules set by the agency after resubmitting their nomination rules.

IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati on Monday said 82 out of the initial 89 parties which had made submissions in November, made new submissions and met the threshold.

He said the parties which have not met the threshold will be given the way forward.

Chebukati spoke during a consultative forum with the Political Parties Liaison Committee on 2022 general election preparedness, nomination rules and proposed electoral legal reforms at Maanzoni Lodge in Athi River, Machakos.

Chebukati said the political parties failed in internal dispute resolutions mechanisms and code of conduct while others failed to comply in both.

He, however, failed to disclose the names of the ten political parties.

He said the IEBC is currently planning for a second and last round of an Enhanced Continuous Voter Registration.

Chebukati said 1.5 million eligible Kenyans had been enrolled by November 5, before the close of the enhanced continuous voter registration exercise that was conducted in all the 1, 450 wards.

“The register of voters is the foundation of any free, fair, transparent and credible elections. It is the basis upon which the political rights to vote and stand for any elective office is realized,” he said.

“The commission marked the start of the 2022 general Election electoral cycle with the launch of Continuous Voter Registration at an event that was held in Makueni on October 15, 2018. From the date of the launch to August 31, the commission had registered 180,938 new voters,”

The forum was attended by the political parties liaison committee members, officials from the office of the Registrar of Political Parties led by the registrar Ann Nderitu and IEBC commissioners.

“The commissioner later rolled out an Enhanced Continous Voter Registration exercise on October 4,” he said.

Chebukati said the right to register as a voter was progressively being realized for Kenyans living outside Kenya (the diaspora) and prisoners.

By The Star Kenya