By Judith Gicobi
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has rescheduled a meeting with political parties to discuss the thorny issue of timetables for presenting candidates for running mate and Deputy Governor positions.
The electoral commission adjourned the meeting due to obligations arising from former President Mwai Kibaki’s death.
In a statement, commission Chair Wafula Chebukati said, “The commission hereby defers the meeting that it had invited you to attend (on 25th April 2022) to 26th April 2022 at 10;00 am,”
The commission’s ultimatum for presidential flagbearers to nominate their deputies by April 28th is the point of departure between IEBC and Azimio la Umoja One Kenya.
Azimio la Umoja One Kenya secretary Junet Mohamed had already arrived at the meeting, indicated that despite the meeting’s postponement, they had discussions with the rest of the commissioners and had achieved some progress.
“We have discussed the matter and put our points forward and tomorrow we will sit with them together with the Chairman. There is good progress we have made and tomorrow we will share the details of how we will deal with this matter,” said Mohamed.
Since presidential aspirants become candidates after the first week of June, Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya maintains that the commission can only obtain the selections of the running mate once the contender formally becomes a candidate.
The goal of today’s discussion was to break the stalemate over when presidential and gubernatorial candidates are expected to reveal their running partners and deputies.
“The actual timeline for submission of the names of running mates is between Sunday 29th May 2022 to Monday 6th June 2022 when, as per your previous directives, nomination papers shall be delivered by each candidate to yourself as Chairperson of the Commission,”Raila Odinga Presidential secretariat spokesperson Makau Mutua said.
The polling organization, on the other hand, has maintained their timeframes, citing a number of constitutional and legal provisions.
According to the Chebukati-led committee, the April 28 deadline gives them more time to scrutinize candidates on educational and ethical grounds before confirming them.
If the dialogue session fails to break the impasse, Deputy President William Ruto and Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Presidential candidate Raila Odinga would have till the end of the day on Thursday to reveal their deputies.
