Political parties have begun holding primaries ahead of the August 9th General Elections.
Raila Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement is leading the way in carrying out the primaries, an exercise that began on Monday 4th April 2022.
The party held Primaries in Kwale and Taita Taveta Counties and for the first time in the history of political parties in Kenya, digital voting in party primaries was introduced where party members had their biometrics displayed before being allowed to vote.
ODM’s Director of Communication Philip Etale expresses his belief that this new mode of voting will enhance transparency and fairness in the party’s nomination exercise which in the past has had many flaws.
‘’Once a member casts their vote electronically, the vote is transmitted directly to the tallying Centre in readiness for the final tallying at the close of the exercise at 5:00pm,’’ Etale said in a communiqué.
‘’The gadgets are set in a way that one cannot vote twice. Only registered Party members are eligible to take part in the exercise,’’ he adds.
Elsewhere Deputy President William Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance has its primaries slated for April 14th.
The party’s National Elections Board (NEB) has already embarked on the process of hiring 128 presiding officers and 100,000 polling clerks for the same.
“All the nomination materials have been procured and some of these materials are being distributed to various counties. The Ministry of Education has cleared us to use schools for the exercise,” NEB Chairperson Anthony Mwaura stated.
According to the board, the party will conduct nominations in 12 counties in regard to the Governor’s seat, 19 counties for Senate and 27 counties to nominate Women Representative candidates.
Jubilee party on the other hand will conduct its nomination exercise between 11th and 22nd April, an exercise that will act as a measure of the ruling party’s strength ahead of the General Elections.
President Uhuru Kenyatta, who is the Jubilee’s party leader, has in recent times led efforts to revamp the party which saw huge membership walk out to form UDA.
According to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, a political party intending to present candidates in this election shall conduct its primaries and resolve intra-party disputes on or before Friday, 22nd April, 2022.
