The political Parties Amendment Bill is expected to change the conduct of Elections if approved by the Senate next week in their special sitting.
On Wednesday, January 5 the National Parliament passed the political parties (amendment) 2021, and the handshake side which had sponsored it carried the day.
A Narc-like Coalition is expected with the presidential candidate running on the ticket unlike it is now where they have to run on the affiliate party ticket.
This means Raila will now contest in the August election as Azimio la Umoja Presidential candidate with the support of all the other parties in Azimio.
Clause 8(3A) of states: “A coalition political party shall only field candidates for election as President.”
The amendments in the bill bar a person from moving into other parties within the coalition if they fail in the party preliminaries.
The affiliate parties will also be given political parties funds irrespective of their performance in the coalition. In the current formation, only big parties were benefiting from the funds.
Former majority leader Adan Duale had proposed an amendment to the bill saying there should be no limitation on when the coalitions need to be formed but the amendment was rejected.
“Why rush parties into coalitions, we should not be sitting here to make laws to favour a certain individual, this is deceit and conman ship,” Duale had protested
Speaking to the Star newspaper, Eldas Member of Parliament Adan Keynan said the timeline of Coalition formation being moved from the initial six months to four months is a necessity as it brings the realistic formation of the coalitions before the election.
“As you know, all winning coalitions and formations in the history of this country have cropped up in under four months to the General election,
“The beauty of this four-month time frame is that it leaves ample time for extensive consultations and concurrence among political players on ideology, manifestos, and line-ups and they still have adequate time to popularise their candidates,” told the Star.
Now, Parties will reserve their name, symbol and slogan for ninety days prior to the registration avoiding last minute rush parties registration.
