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At least 83 registered political parties in Kenya have submitted their nomination rules, according to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

The commission had directed all political parties intending to participate in the 2022 General Election to furnish it with their nomination rules by close of business on Monday.

IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati said   the commission would go through the submitted rules and issue certificates to the political parties in compliance.

“By the close of business on Monday, some 83 registered political parties had submitted their nomination rules as required by law. We are going to process them and issue certificates of compliance to those that have complied by next week,” said Chebukati.

Speaking on the sidelines of stakeholder engagement with Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD), Chebukati warned that only parties that have submitted nomination rules and have been certified by the commission will take part in the next elections.

Certificate of compliance

This means that once the commission issues a certificate of compliance, the political parties shall only conduct their nominations according to the rules certified by the electoral agency and that any deviation from the rules, will be subject to labyrinth legal procedures.

Last week, the commission directed that upon submission of the nomination rules, it shall take 14 days to review the rules to ensure compliance with the prescribed regulations and require any non-compliant political party to amend the rules to ensure such compliance within an additional 14 days.

“Nomination rules of all political parties must strictly comply with the Constitution of Kenya 2010, the Elections Act 2011, the Political Parties Act 2011, the Elections (Party Primaries and Party List} Regulations, 2017, all relevant Kenyan laws and be in accordance with the Party’s Constitution,” Chebukati said in a press release.

Nomination rules

Party nomination rules shall prescribe the process by which political parties nominate candidates in accordance with Article 88 (4) (d) of the Constitution and as guided by the Elections( Party Primaries and Party List ) Regulations, 2017.

“Political Party Nomination Rules which do not adhere to the Applicable Rules and Guidelines shall be rejected.”

Registrar of Political Parties Anne Nderitu confirmed that her office had processed the nomination rules and certified them to be in line with the parties Constitution.

Nderitu said that 83 political parties submitted the nomination rules which she processed and a gave a clean bill of health for submission to the electoral agency. “My office cleared 83 political parties to submit their nomination rules to the IEBC. We do this to ensure that the rules they are submitting are compliant with the parties constitution and the law,” said Nderitu.

She further explained that her office also peruses the documents to ensure that whatever the political parties present to IEBC meets the threshold.

According to the commission, the Nomination Rules submitted by each political party shall be the rules as deposited with the Registrar of Political Parties governed by the provisions of Section 9 and paragraph 19 of the Second Schedule to the Political Parties Act.

Each political party was required to submit their Nomination Rules to the Commission in both hard and soft copy versions through writing by the authorised party official to the Commission Headquarters, at Anniversary Towers.

According to a checklist by the Registrar of Political Parties, the party primary rules should serve to promote democratic, free, fair, transparent, accountable, inclusive and participatory, non-discriminative, credible and peaceful internal party nominations.