The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party on Monday, November 4, announced that grassroots elections will take place at the tail end of this month. The announcement came 6 months after its postponement in April this year due to the flooding experienced in most parts of the country.
In a notice, Emily Awita, the chairperson in charge of the National Elections Coordinating Committee (NECC), revealed that the elections would be held on November 27 across all 47 counties between 10 am and 2 pm.
“There will be elections of thirty (30) party officials, 10 each from the three (3) Committees at each polling unit/centre namely: the Mainstream; Women League, and Youth League,” part of the notice read.
The committee also outlined several other guidelines to be followed during the election exercise including all the positions to be filled in each of the three categories mentioned above.
For instance, the mainstream category shall include the election of a chairperson, a vice chairperson, a secretary, an organising secretary, a treasurer, a women leader, a youth leader, and three committee members.
As for the women and youth league categories, the positions to be contested are the chairperson, secretary, organizing secretary and their deputies, treasurer, and three committee members' seats.
The commission also took into consideration minorities and people living with disabilities with the fifth guideline stating, “Persons with disabilities and minorities be mainstreamed in the three (3) categories.”
They also highlighted the method to be used in the voting process which is the consensus or voting by a show of hands and will require county election coordinators to work closely with polling unit/centre coordinators.
Members who would like to acquaint themselves more with the guidelines for grassroots elections have been encouraged to download the party primaries, nominations, and election rules handbook from the party’s website.
To verify their memberships, they can also dial *483*036#
The structure and membership of the sub-branch, branch, and county coordinating committee will henceforth remain the same and the NECC will announce the roll-out of elections in these categories after the completion of the polling unit/centre elections.
After announcing their plans to have the grassroots elections held at the end of April earlier this year, the NECC was forced to postpone them indefinitely following heavy rains across the country and requests from Busia, Siaya, Kajiado, and Wajir counties which were experiencing floods.
The NECC said in a statement, "Having reviewed the ground situation and assessed the requests, the NECC wishes to announce that the elections scheduled for 27th, 29th, and 30th April 2024 are temporarily postponed as we assess the situation. These will resume as soon as the situation has improved."
