Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Chairman Wafula Chebukati has urged political parties to adhere to the court order on the gender rule before submitting their revised lists to the Commission.
“Non-compliant political parties will not participate in the 2022 General Election for the said elective positions,” said Chebukati on Friday, May 6.
May 9 is the deadline for submitting a list of candidates which complies with the two-thirds gender principle. Political parties who will not have complied with the principle risk being disqualified in the August polls.
The IEBC chair confirmed that upon reviewing the lists of nominated candidates, the Commission observed that 48 parties that submitted lists of nominated candidates for senate seats and 38 political parties that submitted lists of candidates for MP seats complied with the gender rule.
Chebukati also noted that as of April 28, the Commission had received lists of nominated candidates for the MP and Senate positions from 81 political parties.
IEBC issued a letter on April 27, stating that the Commission would reject lists submitted by political parties if they don’t comply with the gender rule. Therefore, parties nominating 290 Members of Parliament must ensure that not more than 193 of them are of the same gender, and 31 in the case of the Senate. This means that if a party nominates most male MPs, they have to ensure that at least 97 are women or 16 in the case of senators.
According to the IEBC, the two-third gender principle stands regardless of the number of candidates a party fronts for the August 9 general election.
