Sunday, January 20, 2013

Cord, Jubilee battle to clear poll disputes



A man blows a vuvuzela as angry Kondele youth burnt tyres and barricaded the roads protesting the result of Kisumu County Gubernatorial position and the parliamentary seat on January 20, 2013. PHOTO/TOM OTIENO
By NATION TEAM newsdesk@ke.nationmedia.com  ( email the author)

Posted  Friday, May 28  9999 at  23:30
In Summary
  • The National Alliance was on Sunday night locked up in a meeting aimed at resolving 170 disputes arising from the nominations conducted last Friday.
  • ODM has also established a panel to look into the complaints raised by its aspirants.
  • According to section 13 of the Elections Act, political parties should nominate their candidates for an election at least 45 days before the General Election slated for March 4.
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Big parties were on Sunday night working around the clock to resolve disputes arising from the controversy ridden nominations ahead of Monday's electoral commission deadline requiring them to do so.
Even though Sunday is the deadline for filing party nomination lists with the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, it is still unclear who the candidates are in several constituencies.
The National Alliance was on Sunday night locked up in a meeting aimed at resolving 170 disputes arising from the nominations conducted last Friday.
TNA said it had received the disputes and was forced to sit late into the night to sort them out to beat the IEBC deadline.
The party’s dispute resolution tribunal chairperson Faith Waigwa said they had concluded 130 cases.
“We are committed to expediting the conclusion of the disputes to enable the party present an undisputed list on Monday,” said Ms Waigwa at the Laico Regency in Nairobi where the party held a media briefing on the status of the just-ended nominations.
ODM has also established a panel to look into the complaints raised by its aspirants.
Consequently, the party is to decide on the fate of former Bondo MP Oburu Oginga and former Gem MP Jakoyo Midiwo whose nominations have been disputed.
ODM National Elections Board chairman Franklin Bett announced that no elections were held in Kisumu, Migori and Homa Bay counties and that nominees for some of the positions would be decided through consensus.
The big political parties are in danger of not fielding candidates in some races because they conducted their nominations after the Friday, January 18, midnight deadline.
Confusion and controversy continued with aspirants from across the divide still waiting for nomination certificates.
Even though Monday is the deadline for filing party nomination lists with the IEBC, in many constituencies, it is still unclear who the candidates are.
In some areas, aspirants declared themselves winners or were announced by lower-level party officials and disputes are still festering.
In Kisumu, violence erupted after gubernatorial aspirant Jack Ranguma’s supporters took to the streets following reports that Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s sister, Ruth Adhiambo Odinga, had been given the ODM ticket.
However, calm was restored after ODM elections board chairman Franklin Bett refuted the reports that Ms Odinga had been declared the winner.
In Nairobi, anxious ODM and TNA aspirants milled around the two parties’ headquarters waiting to be issued with clearance certificates.
Reports of fights between the supporters of rival aspirants over claims that one had secretly received clearance certificates were widespread.
The parties were also yet to resolve disputes in many wards, constituencies and counties where results were disputed.
Political parties have until Monday to resolve disputes arising from the nominations and submit their final lists to the electoral commission.
Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission vice-chairperson Lilian Mahiri-Zaja warned that they would not accept results from parties whose primaries were not finalised by the deadline.
“January 18 is a legal deadline for the nominations and no party should have carried on with the exercise until (Friday) and any results obtained in such an extension is null and void,” she said.
Ms Mahiri-Zaja said the law provides for parties to resolve any disputes from the results and could do so from Sunday until Monday 5pm.
IEBC communications manager Tabitha Mutemi said any party that conducted nominations after the January 18 deadline violated the law.
According to section 13 of the Elections Act, political parties should nominate their candidates for an election at least 45 days before the General Election slated for March 4.
Ms Mutemi told the Nation the commission would gather information on parties that held nominations past the deadline from the police and election officials on the ground.
“We’ll not recognise the results. We have to follow the law because elections are about the law,” she said.
In Kisumu County, ODM nominations in four constituencies were reportedly held after the legal deadline.
Kisumu West, Nyando, Muhoroni and Seme started the primaries on Saturday after late dispatch of materials.
However, Mr Bett said the party did not recognise nominations that took place after January 18 deadline.
Voting in Mbita constituency in Homa Bay County continued beyond the Friday deadline because most polling stations had not received their materials on time.
This also forced the officials to postpone voting to Saturday morning. The results there are still not known.
UDF failed to carry out nominations in Shinyalu and Malava as the aspirants disagreed on the mode of handling of the nominations.
By Sunday, the fate of the party nominations remained unclear.
Party supporters held demonstrations in Shinyalu and Khayega market demanding that the party intervenes to ensure credible candidates.
Two of the aspirants in Shinyalu, Dr Andeyi Ligabo and Mr Adriano Meja, accused the party of trying to impose former MP Justus Kizito as the candidate.
In Malava, the nominations flopped due to late arrival of nomination materials.
In Emuhaya, a similar scenario was reported sparking off protest from UDF supporters who have threatened to decamp to ODM should the party fail to resolve the nominations debacle.

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