Plans for presidential run-off

By Isaac Ongiri

The Electoral Commission has set aside Sh2.5 billion for a possible 2013 presidential run-off as the main presidential aspirants in Kenyafs 11th General Election study the emerging trend of election run-offs in Africa.

Scheduled to come weeks after a fatiguing electioneering campaign, the re-run dilemma has been

Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Chairman, Isaack Ahmed Hassan. (Photo:File/Standard)

made worse by a constant afro-trend which has seen first round winners vanquished at the second round by their opponents.

And The Standard On Saturday has established that top presidential contenders in the coming elections, their campaign teams and the Independent Elections and Boundaries Commission are now concentrating their efforts in strategising on how to effectively handle a run-off due to their unpredictable outcomes.

Under the new Constitution the popular winner of the elections must garner more than 50 per cent of the total votes cast and at least 25 per cent of votes in half of the countryfs 47 counties to be declared winner. If there will not be a clear winner in round one, Kenya will for the first time experience a run-off election.

And preparing to deliver a controversy-free election run-off, the IEBC Chief Executive Officer James Oswago confirmed that the commission has sent a team of experts to undertake a study in countries that have experienced run-off situations in their elections.

"We are taking keen interest on election run- offs just to make sure we are well prepared to handle it. The commission has also set aside about Sh2.5 billion to fund the second round of presidential election if an outright winner is not produced in the first round," Oswago said.

Oswago explained that the billions of shillings would be used to finance the ordinary elections logistics, pay temporary staff, and print the re-run ballot materials alongside other basic expenditures.

Oswago said top-level commission officers have visited Liberia and Senegal to study how the two countries conducted their own run-off elections.

Next month IEBC chief said another team of election officials is set to travel to France to monitor and study the French elections to be held on April 22.

The Kenyan election has all the prospects of a possible re-run tentatively slated for May 6, 2013.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga is leading a pack of seasoned politicians scrambling to be Kenyafs fourth president.

Other candidates in the race include Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka, Deputy Prime Ministers Uhuru Kenyatta, and Musalia Mudavadi, Cabinet ministers Eugene Wamalwa and George Saitoti, several MPs among them William Ruto (Eldoret North), Martha Karua (Gichugu), Mutava Musyimi (Gachoka), and Peter Kenneth (Gatanga), among others.

To fix the run-off jinx that has hit the African incumbents in the elections Raila has set up a team of election think tank composed of political scientists, and a cocktail of experts to strategise on how to marshal a win against a heavy tide of united opponents.

Former Permanent Secretary James Ongwae is now the new head of the PMfs election think tank. Former Kenya Ports Authority MD Brown Ondego, a close associate of Mudavadi, paved way by taking charge of the resource mobilisation docket.

Political analyst Barack Muluka has been appointed the head of the PMfs communication directorate and will take charge of the PMfs media and public affairs relations during the campaigns.

Several respected university lecturers have also joined the exclusive club of strategists that will drive the PMfs third attempt to become president.

"It is true I am in charge of the communication directorate. We are working on a number of issues mostly on how to win the first round and round two if we end up there," Muluka said.

Ongwae also confirmed his arrival at The Raila Odinga Centre, as the head of the PMfs election machine.

With President Kibaki constitutionally locked out of the 2013 elections, the PM is seen as the incumbent and will be strategising on how to win the run-off, which has felled election favourites in other African States recently.

Ivory Coast, Ghana, Liberia, and Senegal are among the few African States to have experienced credible run-offs within the last five years with disastrous result for the incumbents and first round winners.

The Chief Executive Officer at the PMfs main campaign lobby group Friends of Raila, Dick Oneko, said the focus of the PMfs campaign is to ensure an outright win in the first round and that everything is being done to achieve significant victory.

"We do not want to preoccupy ourselves with issues to do with the second round because we believe the PM can win at the first round, and that is where we are putting all our energies. We are, however, keenly studying the trends in other African polls with a view to building on the shortcomings," Oneko said.

"It is crucial to undertake a study on this trend, but what is important is that Kenya is not the same as Senegal, Ghana or Liberia," declared Kangundo MP Johnstone Muthama.

Muthama, who said he is working with a number of campaign teams in putting together a strategy for a top candidate, said that their plan is to win in the first round.

"Donft ask me about my candidate, but we are putting all the efforts to ensure we win during the first round so that we do not go through the uncertainties of a run-off. I know my candidate who is in the Alliance Party of Kenya will carry the day," said Muthama, an ally of the Vice-President.

Former Starehe MP Maina Kamanda, who is leading Saitotifs campaign drive, said their team is uncomfortable with a runoff, adding that their group is shifting strategy to build alliances that can win a first round.

"Run-offs are characterised with chaos, suspense and a lot of unknowns. The Saitoti group doesnft want to end up there that is why we now want to work with like-minded candidates to frustrate our opponents at the first round," Kamanda said.

The former Cabinet minister hinted at a possibility of a grand merger bringing together the G7 Alliance, former Tourism minister Najib Balala, and Saitoti before elections.