The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission now says it will reject parties’ nomination lists for MPs and Senate seats in the event they fail to meet a two-third gender rule.
It is no doubt that the Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Alliance and the Kenya Kwanza Alliance are two leading political formations in the country.
ODM leader Raila Odinga and Deputy President William Ruto, who are both the leaders of the two formations, have been ranked by opinion polls as the top presidential candidates.
Parties making both Azimio and Kenya Kwanza Alliance have been racing against time to ensure they beat the IEBC deadline of issuing a list of nominated people for various elective seats with their certificates.
In some areas, the coalitions have exercised zoning while in some, they have used consensus to determine who will fly their flags.
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On Wednesday, the UDA party was among the political outfits that were last in issuing their nominations certificates.
But all the nominations exercises could be exercises in futility if the IEBC's latest directive is implemented.
IEBC chair Wafula Chebukati in a statement on Wednesday evening warned that they will reject the nominations list that is not gender quorate.
For example, Chebukati said if the nomination list has a total of 290 candidates for parliamentary seats, 193 of them should not be from one gender. If the list of the candidates is less than 290, the two-third gender principle will still apply.
On the county level, Chebukati said if the party submits 47 candidates for Senate positions, 31 of them should not be from one gender. If the number is less than 47, the two-third gender rule will still apply.
“In the event, the nomination list does not comply with the two-thirds gender requirement, the commission will reject the list and will communicate the rejection in writing to the political party,” Chebukati said.
“The commission will provide the political party an opportunity to revise the list and re-submit the revised list to the commission within 48 hours of receipt of communication from the commission.”
The pronouncement now presents another headache for political parties since most of them did not factor in the two-third gender rule while conducting nominations and issuing certificates.
The development is likely to send the parties back to the drawing board to strategize on how the final list will be gender quorate.
