IEBC releases election timelines, bars politicians from being guests at harambees

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has released a revised Electoral Operations Plan (EOP) for 2017 General Election in which it outlines timelines for parties and candidates in line with the Electoral Laws Amendments Act 2016.

The new law has barred politicians from taking part in harambees as guests starting December 7, 2016 until the elections are completed, failure to which the candidates will be disqualified.

According to the new calendar, political parties are required to submit names of their members to contest in party primaries between March 23 and April 5, 2017, while the actual party nominations are slated to take place between April 13 and April 26.

Any dispute arising from party primaries will be resolved within 30 days beginning April 20 to May 2017.

Parties have been allowed two days between May 28 and 29, 2017 to nominate their candidates for presidential election.

IEBC will receive political parties comprehensive list of candidates to participate in the General Election between June 10 and June 24, 2017.

The commission will conduct the second phase of voter registration between January 16 and February 15, 2017, while Diaspora voters will be allowed 15 days to register between February 1 and February 15, 2017.

IEBC’s final and comprehensive voters register is expected to be ready by June 17, 2017.

An independent audit firm hired by the commission to scrutinize the current voters registers commenced work Friday, December 02, 2016 and is expected to finalize it within 30 days and hand over a comprehensive report.

The commission is in turn expected to implement recommendations of the audit firm not later than the last day of January 2017.

The new electoral laws demand that IEBC should have in place a Kenya Integrated Election Management System (KIEMS) capable of registering voters, identifying them and transmitting results electronically.

The commission has already finalised drafting the desired specifications of the systems and is set to embark on the procurement process. KIEMS is expected to be installed and running by the close of April 2017.

The commission was compelled to amend its elections calendar, which it had initially published on January 2016, following consensus by political players on new look commission and the subsequent amendment of the electoral laws that came into effect from October 4, 2016.

The new law provided for the removal of the current commission and selection of new ones.