The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has allocated more time to political parties to conduct their party primaries.
In an announcement Friday, October 1, IEBC chairman, Wafula Chebukati, said the electoral agency will make changes to the Election Operation Plan (EOP) and gazette the next General Election dates on January 19, 2022 as opposed to the earlier set March 14, 2022.
The changes in the EOP will allow political parties to conduct their primaries from the date of the gazettement of the polls date. The IEBC chairman further noted that the polls body will only give an end date to the primaries and next to the start date as has always been the norm.
The decision by the IEBC follows a request by the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Secretary General, Edwin Sifuna, who sought an extension of time allocated to parties to conduct their primaries.
Sifuna had earlier written to the electoral body stating that the time allocated to political parties to conduct their primaries was not enough.
“ODM is a big party, and one week is not enough for us to hold party primaries,” Sifuna said.
He added, “Chebukati promised to address the matter once the commission is fully constituted. This has been attained, and we expect him to address the matter."
The IEBC had set April 9, 2022, as the last day for submitting names of party primaries to the electoral body, and holding party primaries be held between April 16 and April 22.
According to the previous timelines, the candidates were given until May 9 to decide whether they are still party members or quit.
By May 13, IEBC was supposed to gazette all names of independent candidates.
