A majority of the initial 55 presidential aspirants failed to submit their credentials to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) on Wednesday, May 25. This may see a tremendous reduction of presidential candidates in the ballot paper come August 9 general elections.
The clearance requirements which included the collection of not less than 2,000 signatures or endorsements from at least 24 counties may have proved to be a rigorous task for most of the candidates. Moreover, the IEBC also asked for the signatories copies of identity cards, presented in both physical and electronic form.
Aspirants who submitted the IEBC requirements and reached the set deadline were less than 10 from political parties and an even smaller number of independent candidates.
While established parties have easily navigated these requirements, independent and fringe party hopefuls have found the going rather tough as getting proof of support from more than half of the counties in the country is an uphill task.
Ford Asili party aspiring running mate Michael Arunga, said: “It is extremely difficult…that’s not an easy assignment…getting two thousand signatures is easier said than done.”
Justice and Freedom Party Rep, Hellen Mtawali, said: “ID has been the problem, but later on because it was a requirement it was easy for people to not know that it wasn’t the original copy that was needed, just a copy of the ID.”
Likewise, there is the monetary challenge, as candidates need to print each copy of at least 48,000 IDs, organize, and bind them into folders that will be acceptable to the IEBC. Arunga says all these requires a lot of money.
“As for us as a commission, we shall enforce the law, and we have no reason to depart from these provisions,” said IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati.
Nonetheless, successful aspirants will now wait for the commission to verify that the signatures presented, match the IDs before allowing them to proceed to the next stage in their quest for presidency.
