Thursday, 17 June 2021 07:05

2022 IEBC Timelines Featured

The electoral commission has unveiled the 2022 election timeliness, requiring civil servants seeking to run for office to resign by February 9, next year.

The law requires that public officers seeking elective seats resign six months to a general election.

According to the IEBC's Election Operations plan, nominations for presidential candidates will take place between May 30 and June 10 next year.

Official campaigns for the 2022 General Elections will run from May 10 after presidential candidates submit their papers to the IEBC, to August 6, two days to polling day.

In the packed calendar, the commission is expected to conduct two phases of mass voter registration targeting seven million Kenyans before the polls. The first mass voter registration run from August 2 to August 16 this year.

The second campaign will begin from December 6 until December 20 this year. The commission will hire a reputable firm to audit its voter register from October 1 to October 30 this year. The law requires the report generated by the audit firm will be tabled in Parliament for approval before its recommendations are implemented by the IEBC.

The bicameral House will have from November 2 to 15 to deliberate on the report. The commission will on February 28, 2022, suspend voter registration to pave way for field verification from March 1 to April 14.

The certified register of voters will then be generated and gazetted on May 2, 2022, three months to the polls. The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission launched the Elections Operations Plan on Tuesday, detailing its calendar of activities all the way to election day.

The plan will not only guide IEBC’s operations towards 2022 but also outline priorities, timelines and milestones in the electoral cycle. IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati said the wealth of experience and lessons learnt from 2017 General Elections and presidential rerun, recommendations from stakeholders and observer reports informed the development of the plan.

The plan assumes the commission will be fully constituted in time, funding will be adequate and timely and 3G network coverage will be expanded. It also assumes electoral technology and proposed legislative amendments will be in place.

The plan has strict timelines for strengthening corporate governance, legal framework, institutional capacity, conduct of elections, public outreach, and strategic partnerships. It also talks of stakeholder engagement and election observation, strategic communications, election risk management, election security, and information communication technology.

December 9, 2021, will mark the end of fundraising by political aspirants, eight months before the general elections. Parties will conduct primaries from April 16 to April 22. The names of candidate who will participate in the primaries will be submitted to the commission by April 9.

The commission will then gazette the names by April 16. Other nominations will be Senate (May 30-June 2), National Assembly (May 30 to June 1), County Woman Representative (June 3 to June 6), gubernatorial (June to 10 June 10) and county assembly (June 2 to June 10).

Publication of names of all nominated candidates will be done on June 20. Submission of the names of independent candidates will be made on May 9. Election campaigns will run from May 30 to August 6. Deployment of polling station personnel, materials and Kiems will be done on August 8, a day ahead of the election day on August 9.

Chebukati, speaking during the launch of the plan on Tuesday, said stakeholders are key in its mission to deliver a foolproof election. The commission hopes at least 90 per cent of gaps identified in the electoral legal framework will be eliminated upon enactment of proposed amendments.

The IEBC wants the Elections Act, 2011 and Elections (General) Regulations amended to allow enhanced voter registration and voting by Kenyan citizens residing outside the country. The plan also pushes for the establishment of the campaign financing enforcement unit to operationalise the Campaign Financing Regulation. The commission will also map and review voter registration centres ahead of 2022.

It will further conduct an audit of voter registration technology and review technical requirements and specifications of election technology (BVR, KIEMS) It will then update the BVR system licence and infrastructure to accommodate additional voters Some four million youths who were not eligible to vote during the 2017 General Election are being targeted in the current registration campaign.

Chebukati said it was important to create and sustain strategic partnerships and collaborations for the successful execution of the commission’s mandate. He noted that the commission has over time developed an invaluable network of partners and stakeholders in election management. "The role played by these stakeholders in expanding the democratic space in Kenya cannot be gainsaid,” he stated.

The National Police Service said an election security secretariat based at the headquarters has been formed to prepare for the election. Joseph Ashimala, deputy director at the DCI, said the secretariat will first conduct a security audit of past elections. “The secretariat will then prepare a national elections' security plan that will guide the management of security before, during and after the elections,” he stated.

Ashimala added an election security manual is also being prepared to be given to officers involved in the management of the polls. “We are monitoring threats to a peaceful election and devising proactive measures to be taken. We are committed to working with IEBC for a free, fair and credible election,” he said. Chief registrar of the Judiciary, Anne Amadi on behalf of the Chief Justice Martha Koome said they were committed to working with IEBC to deliver a credible election.

Amadi said the Judiciary has a standing committee on elections to guide the management of election disputes presented to court. She asked the IEBC to put in place measures aimed at minimising electoral disputes.

“In recent elections in Ghana, there were very few disputes when compared to us. Is it that in Ghana, people trust the electoral body more than in Kenya?” Amadi asked.

National Cohesion and Integration Commission chairman Samuel Kobia said they are looking forward to partnering with IEBC to make and keep the peace before, during and after elections. “It is a known fact that the task of keeping Kenya peaceful is harder during elections and indeed the term violence is rarely uttered in Kenya without the prefix post-election,” he stated.

He said the launch of the IEBC strategic plan further emphasised the symbiotic and critical role the two commissions play. “We not only welcome the remarks on the degree qualification by the IEBC but we also desire to partner with the electoral body to lock out candidates who do not pass the threshold set by our Constitution and the NCIC Act from running in 2022,” he said.

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