By Winnie Kamau
Nairobi, Kenya: The pressure is on ahead of Kenya’s 9th August polls as political parties have until 22nd April to conclude their party primaries and present names of successful candidates to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) for approval. But can these primaries be guaranteed to be free and fair?
Raila Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) was the first to kick off its primaries on 1st April. The party intends to conclude this process on 20th April, two days before the deadline.
The United Democratic Alliance (UDA), led by the Deputy President William Ruto, has announced that its party primaries will take place on April 14th.
In 2017, ODM was criticized for unfair and chaotic primaries that led to aspirants either defecting to other parties or vying as independent candidates.
At the start of this year’s primaries, John Mbadi who is ODM’s national chairman assured presidential hopefuls that the exercise will be free and fair. “ODM is a democratic party,” he said.
Here is a look at some of the crucial deadlines that parties and independent candidates need to fulfill before the General election on 9th of August as gazetted by the IEBC Chairman, Wafula Chebukati.
