Nyaribari Chache MP Zaheer Jhanda
This is after Nyaribari Chache MP Zaheer Jhanda proposed a change to the timing of party-list nomination system that will effectively give lifeline to bigwigs floored at the ballot.
According to Zaheer’s proposal, political parties will submit their final nominees for party-list seats after the general election.
“I am proposing a straightforward reform to the timing of party-list nominations for Members of Parliament, Senators and county assembly representatives,” Zaheer said in a statement.
“In simple terms, all party-list nominations should be conducted and the final names submitted after the general election.”
The current legal framework requires party lists to be submitted ahead of the election.
The Elections Act provides that party lists for National Assembly, Senate and county assembly special seats are submitted to the electoral commission before the relevant election, while the Constitution provides for allocation of the seats in proportion to the seats won by parties.
IEBC has set June 25, 2027 as the deadline for political parties to submit the membership lists. Only those in the list would secure nomination slots after the election. No changes are allowed thereafter.
The existing system effectively locks out those who participate in a general election from being nominated to either of the houses of Parliament or county assemblies.
Jhanda says the change will allow voters to determine the strength of each party first, before the parties decide who takes the special seats allocated to them.
Under his proposal, which is being cobbled into a draft bill, parties would first participate in the general election and wait for the results to establish how many party-list seats they have won.
They would then submit nominees for the available positions.
“The principle is simple. Let Kenyans vote first. Let the electoral outcome determine the allocation of the seats. Then let the corresponding party-list nomination follow that outcome,” Jhanda proposed.
The MP argues that moving the final nomination process to after the election will make the system more closely connected to the actual electoral outcome while retaining constitutional safeguards and proportional representation.
“This proposal is intended to make the process more directly connected to the actual electoral outcome, while maintaining constitutional safeguards, transparency, fairness and the principle of proportional presentation.”
“I believe this is an important issue that deserves serious public and legislative debate.”
The proposal could find its way to the house if the lawmaker actualises it as a Bill to change Article 90 of the Constitution.
The Article compels political parties to submit a prioritised list of qualified candidates to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) within the timelines set by national legislation – currently before elections.
The proposal could, however, create a new political avenue for candidates who lose elective contests, depending on how Parliament and political parties eventually structure the nominations.
The proposal comes against a long Kenyan tradition in which politicians who have suffered electoral defeats have found other avenues to remain in public life.
Past governments have appointed poll losers into their administrations giving them soft landings after bruising elections campaigns.
In 2013, President Uhuru Kenyatta appointed several politicians who had lost in the general election to chair state corporation boards.
The practice resurfaced after the 2017 elections, when politicians who had lost party primaries or previous elections returned to the political contest through fresh party nominations.
In 2019, more politicians who had lost the 2017 general election received appointments to state boards.
The 2022 election cycle produced another version of the phenomenon: at least 50 politicians who had contested and lost in the August 2022 elections were shortlisted for chief administrative secretary positions in 2023.
Following the 2022 election, another bunch of politicians who had failed to win elective positions sought the available East African Legislative Assembly slots, with parties submitting names for consideration.
INSTANT ANALYSIS
The lawmaker wants the idea subjected to debate, arguing that Kenyans should vote first and political parties should make their final party-list choices after the election
