National Super Alliance (NASA) Members of Parliament walked out of parliament on Thursday morning after the Jubilee MPs managed to push the Bill on the amendments to election laws to the First Reading.
The Opposition MPs vowed they would not be part of the Bill they described as draconian and which is seeking to take Kenya 50 years back.
During the parliamentary session, Jubilee managed to push the Bill through to the First reading by virtue of their numerical strength with a vote of 144 against 53.
The Jubilee legislators are seeking to reduce the maturation period for two Bills to change electoral laws from 14 days to one day.
The contentious motion, seeking to amend the Election laws before the October presidential election, was tabled by Majority Leader Aden Duale today morning.
The opposition legislators argued that the Ad hoc legal committee created to discuss the amendments was illegal as it comprised of only Jubilee members to ensure the vote sails through as fast as possible.
Not even a division vote push by the Opposition leaders could stop the Bill from sailing through to the first reading.
Thereafter, the NASA MPs walked out of Parliament citing that the amendments would take Kenya 50 years back. They vowed not to return for the first reading of the contentious Bill in the afternoon session.
On Wednesday, Jubilee lawmakers agreed to push for various amendments to Kenya's Electoral laws after a meeting with President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto at State House on Tuesday.
Among the proposed changes is an amendment to Section 141(1) of the Constitution that currently reserves the task of swearing in the President exclusively for the Chief Justice or the Deputy Chief Justice.
The law states that the swearing in of the President-elect shall be in public before the Chief Justice, or, in the absence of the Chief Justice, the Deputy Chief Justice.
If the proposed amendments go through, any Supreme Court judge will be able to swear in the President-elect.
The Jubilee lawmakers also agreed to push for the replacement of the electronic vote transmission system with a manual one. The nullification of President Uhuru Kenyatta's win in the August polls by the Supreme Court was informed majorly by transmission issues, with 11,883 Forms 34A unavailable up to 9 days after the close of the polls.
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