Parties battle to cure nomination headache

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By BERNARD NAMUNANE bnamunane@ke.nationmedia.com AND ISAAC ONGIRI iongiri@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Wednesday, September 26  2012 at  19:27

IN SUMMARY

• Many aspirants for the seats of governor, senator, MP, county women’s representative and county assembly representative are eyeing tickets from one of the six parties to boost their chances of emerging victorious in the elections.
• ODM will set up election supervisory panels in the 47 counties to handle the primaries with the help of coordinators.
• TNA chairman Johnson Sakaja said they had set up internal systems to ensure nominations were conducted in a transparent way. He said they would meet with all aspirants in Nairobi next week to agree on nomination rules.

The big political parties face the nightmare of conducting credible nominations for their candidates ahead of next year’s general elections.

Interviews with officials of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), The National Alliance (TNA), the United Republican Party (URP), the United Democratic Forum (UDF) and the Wiper Democratic Party (WDP) revealed a challenging task for their officials. (READ: Party leaders back to the drawing board)

Many aspirants for the seats of governor, senator, MP, county women’s representative and county assembly representative are eyeing tickets from one of the six parties to boost their chances of emerging victorious in the elections.

On Wednesday, the newly constituted ODM National Elections Board said it was preparing for the nominations which it promised to hold in a transparent and democratic manner.

“The nominations will be fully transparent, inclusive and participatory. Every ODM member who wishes to vie for any post will have the freedom to stand and every voter will have the right to choose for the candidate they wish to nominate,” board chairman Henry Kathurima said in a statement. He ruled out direct nominations.

ODM will set up election supervisory panels in the 47 counties to handle the primaries with the help of coordinators.

TNA chairman Johnson Sakaja said they had set up internal systems to ensure nominations were conducted in a transparent way. He said they would meet with all aspirants in Nairobi next week to agree on nomination rules.

“We are holding consultations with aspirants on elections and nomination rules so that all of them are agreeable with what we want,” he said by phone and also ruled out direct nominations.

UDF chairman Osman Hassan said party delegates would nominate candidates stating that nomination rules provided for a collegiate primaries starting from the grassroots.

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“We are going to use delegates from the wards all the way to the counties to nominate our candidates. This is in line with our policy which encourages methods that can help us break away from the past,” said Mr Hassan.

URP chairman Francis ole Kaparo said the party would stick to the nomination rules agreed on with all aspirants in Nairobi two months ago. He said the IEBC could be invited to conduct the nominations subject to the availability of funds.

“We want to conduct one of the fairest exercises and we are going to follow the law as it is. WPD secretary-general Mutula Kilonzo said they would swear in the party’s elections board soon with strict instructions of sticking to the nominations rules.

“We have put in place a proper mechanism to ensure the nominations are credible,” he said.