Registrar of Political Parties Anne Nderitu has assured all losers in party nominations will not have a window to vie as independent candidates in next year’s General Election.
This comes barely days after Raila Odinga’s party pleaded with the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to bar nomination losers from vying as independent candidates.
As part of the tactical move to lock out nomination losers and defectors from vying as independent candidates, Raila Odinga had asked the registrar of political parties to conduct their nominations on May 9, 2022, one week after all independent candidates have been cleared to run for elective seats.
In what appears to be a landmark win for the opposition leader Raila Odinga who is expected to give a fifth stab at the presidency, registrar of political parties Anne Nderitu on Friday, December 3, said candidates must declare in advance if they want to run under a party or as an independent.
“There will be a window where if you are a party candidate you cannot cross over to run as an independent,
“Once one is defeated during primaries, there is no window for you to jump as an independent candidate,” Nderitu said.
Nderitu further urged all political parties to conduct free and fair nominations stating that it is the only way that will determine the credibility of the polls.
She pleaded with all political parties to immediately clean their registers adding that “this time round we don’t expect them to use the registrar of political parties register.”
“We are advising cleaning up of registers by political parties so that those who vote in primaries are members,” she said.
It is understood that primaries losers have had a tendency of defecting to other parties or going it as independent candidates and vie against their former parties, a move that Raila Odinga had raised with the registrar of political parties.
