Political parties face a daunting task in their nominations after the IEBC announced it will reject any list that does not comply with the two-thirds gender rule.
In the latest effort to achieve the elusive gender principle, especially in Parliament, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission said it will only accept compliant lists.
Chairman Wafula Chebukati said the enforcement of the rule stems from a High Court ruling that directed the agency to devise administrative mechanisms to ensure gender parity is realised among parties during nominations for parliamentary elections.
“The commission shall, therefore, comply with the orders of the court by ensuring that political parties’ nomination lists for elective positions in the Senate and the National Assembly comply with the two-third gender rule before they are accepted by the commission for candidates’ registration,” Chebukati said.
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Article 81(b) of the Constitution provides that “not more than two-thirds of the members of elective public bodies shall be of the same gender.”
The IEBC boss spoke during a workshop for journalists and the commission in Mombasa on Monday.
However, while the rule has been attained in the county assemblies and the Senate, it has proved elusive in the National Assembly, with at least four attempts flopping in Parliament.
The announcement, which came exactly one year to the August 9, 2022 General Election, will put parties in a tight corner as they must balance the gender during their primaries.
In the previous elections, men often dominated the lists. Women have often blamed harassment and rough game by their male counterparts who beat them at nomination slots.
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A report published by the Federation of Women Lawyers in 2018 said some 172 of the 1,883 elected seats were women. This was up from 143 in 2013.
In the High Court ruling, the IEBC and political parties were directed to formulate rules and regulations for purposes of actualising the two-thirds gender principle during nominations.
This applies to nomination slots of the 290 constituency-based elective positions for members of the National Assembly and 47 county-based elective positions for Members of the Senate.
The case was filed by the Katiba Institute with IEBC as the respondent.
“In default the Respondent (IEBC) was directed to devise administrative mechanisms to ensure that the two-third gender principle was realised among political parties during nomination exercises for parliamentary elections,” Chebukati said.
He added that the commission was further directed to reject any nomination list of a party for its candidates for the 290 constituency-based elective positions for MPs, senators and MCAs.
Meanwhile, the commission has raised concerns over the chaos that have marred previous by-elections and has vowed to strictly enforce the electoral code in the upcoming polls to tame violent players.
“The code empowers the Commission’s Code of Conduct Enforcement Committee to penalise candidates and parties that perpetrate electoral malpractice during the campaign period,” he said.
In 2017 the aggrieved parties filed a total of 71 complaints, out of which 31 were prosecuted.
The disputes emanated from breach of code of conduct touching on campaigns leading to violence, plagiarism and/or use of symbols of other candidates, independent candidates using party symbols or pictures, destruction or defacing campaign materials of other candidates, amongst others.
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