Registering a political party in Kenya is a two-stage process that requires applicants to meet legal, membership, leadership and administrative requirements before a party can obtain full registration.
The process is handled by the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties (ORPP), which is mandated to register and regulate political parties and administer the Political Parties Fund.
Political parties play a role in mobilizing citizens to participate in elections, formulating public policies and recruiting and selecting political leaders, according to the ORPP.
For anyone seeking to establish a party, the process begins with the reservation of the proposed name, symbol and slogan before an application for provisional registration is made.
The registration process has two stages — provisional registration followed by full registration.
Provisional Registration of Political Party
The first formal stage is provisional registration.
The application must be made in writing and signed by the applicants. No more than two-thirds of the applicants can be of the same gender.
An applicant must submit signed minutes of the first meeting of the founding members, the proposed party name and, where applicable, its abbreviation.
The application must also include a request for registration of the party’s symbol and slogan, a copy of the proposed party constitution and rules, and a statement of the party’s ideology.
ORPP also requires applicants to demonstrate the political party website and membership recruitment system and undertake to comply with the Political Parties Act and the Code of Conduct.
The current ORPP fee structure lists a KSh500 name-search fee and KSh100,000 for provisional registration. Full registration costs KSh500,000.
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Party Names Must Meet the Law
An applicant cannot simply choose any name and expect it to be accepted.
The registration process includes checking the proposed party’s name, symbol, slogan and colour. The Political Parties Act provides for objections to a proposed party’s registration, including its name, symbol and colour.
This was illustrated by documents involving an applicant who submitted several proposed party names in June 2025.
The Registrar rejected People’s Renaissance Party (PRP), National People’s Alliance (NPA) and National Unity Party (NUP) after finding that they closely resembled already registered names.
The rejected names were found to resemble Pan-African Renaissance Party, National People’s Alliance of Kenya and Party of National Unity, respectively.
The Registrar said the names were therefore against Section 8 of the Political Parties Act.
Another proposed name, People’s Renaissance Movement, was subsequently approved, although the abbreviation was amended to PM.
The name reservation was granted for a period of not more than 90 days from the date of the letter.
A separate ORPP letter also approved the proposed slogan “The Change We Need.”
The documents show that name approval is only one part of the wider registration process.
Founding Members Have to Meet Requirements
The first meeting of the founding members is another important part of the application.
The ORPP requires signed minutes of the meeting to accompany the application for provisional registration.
In one application reviewed by the Registrar in June 2025, the founding members’ minutes were found to contain a resolution to form the political party.
The minutes also provided for the appointment of a correspondent person with the ORPP and indicated that none of the founding members was a public officer or had been disqualified from holding public office.
The Registrar further noted compliance with the two-thirds gender rule, a signed attendance list, a national outlook and signatures from at least three founding members.
The minutes were subsequently approved and admitted as the minutes of the first meeting of the founding members under Section 6(2)(a) of the Political Parties Act.
Provisional Registration Does not Mean Full Registration
A party that obtains provisional registration still has to meet additional requirements before becoming fully registered.
The ORPP says a provisionally registered party must apply for full registration within 180 days of provisional registration.
The Political Parties Act also provides that provisional registration can lapse if the party does not make the required application within the prescribed period.
A provisionally registered party cannot participate in an election.
It can, however, undertake activities necessary to meet the requirements for full registration, including recruiting members and establishing its offices.
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Full Registration
One of the biggest requirements for full registration is membership.
The party must recruit at least 1,000 registered voters from each of more than half of Kenya’s counties. The ORPP currently describes this requirement as at least 1,000 registered voters in 24 counties.
The membership must reflect regional and ethnic diversity, gender balance and representation of special interest groups.
At the same time, the governing body must reflect regional and ethnic diversity, gender balance and representation of special interest groups.
No more than two-thirds of the members of the governing body can be of the same gender.
Members of the governing body must also meet the requirements of Chapter Six of the Constitution and laws relating to ethics.
A party seeking full registration must submit to the Registrar a list of its members containing their names, addresses and identification details.
It must have a registered head office in Kenya and branch offices in more than half of the counties.
The application must also provide disaggregated membership data for special interest groups and the address of the party’s official website.
The party must undertake to comply with the Political Parties Act and the Code of Conduct and pay the prescribed registration fee.
Who Cannot be a Founding Member?
The law also sets restrictions on who can establish or belong to a political party.
The ORPP states that a person who is disqualified from holding public office or who belongs to another political party cannot be a founding member of a political party.
This means applicants have to satisfy eligibility requirements before being included among the founding members.
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