Just 10 months to the General Elections, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has suffered a major setback in Parliament in its quest to change various laws as it prepares to deliver credible polls next year.
At least three proposed amendments are facing rejection in the National Assembly.
Lawmakers have rejected calls to increase the number of polling stations, change the law on nomination of Members of the County Assemblies (MCAs) and management of party primaries.
The proposals contained in the Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2024, faced a hostile House that has questioned the timing of the amendments and the budgetary requirement of the commission.
On nomination of MCAs, lawmakers expressed opposition to a proposal to amend the principal Act to provide that for an individual to be nominated in a county assembly, he or she must be a registered voter in that county.
“A person shall not be nominated by a political party unless the person is, on the date of submission of the party list by the political party, a registered voter in any of the wards in the county in which the person is nominated,” reads the Bill.
National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah termed the proposal retrogressive, unconstitutional and unfair.
“I would be moving amendments when we get to the Third Reading to remove that particular provision. Any Kenyan can be nominated to serve in a county assembly in any part of the country. That is how we bring our people together and build cohesion,” Mr Ichung’wah said.
Nominated MP Irene Mayaka noted that the provision contravenes the Constitution regarding freedom of movement and residence within Kenya.
Currently, anyone can be nominated in any of the 47 County Assemblies. There are 770 nomination slots for MCAs besides the 1,450 that are elected directly.
The Chairperson of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Erastus Edung Ethekon (left) with his deputy Fahima Araphat Abdallah and other delegates during the launch of the IEBC Strategic Plan 2024–2029 and Election Operations Plan 2025–2027 at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) in Nairobi on June 24, 2026.
Photo credit: Wilfred Nyangaresi | Nation Media Group
IEBC’s proposal to increase the number of voters in a polling station from the current 700 to 1,000 has also been rejected by the lawmakers.
The lawmakers cited failure by the electoral agency to increase the number of polling stations to accommodate the increase of the voters leaves the 2027 General Election prone to malpractice and risks locking out many Kenyans from voting.
Wajir East MP Aden Mohammed said voting should be made easier, warning that 1,000 people in a polling station may provide a challenge to the commission.
“We want to make elections easier, not harder, for people. A limit of 1,000 people per polling station could mean it takes more than 12 hours to vote. We will, therefore, propose an amendment to that section and retain the number at 700, if the House agrees,” Mr Mohamed said.
The commission argued that its new voter identification machines are faster compared to those used in 2013, 2017 and 2022. It added that the increase in the number of voters per station is also based on a research it did as part of its post-election evaluation of the 2022 polls.
The commission estimates that if the proposal sails through, then voting in most polling stations will be concluded by 4pm and there will be no longer late long queues towards the 5pm deadline.
Settlement of electoral disputes
On party primaries, MPs are also plotting to lock out the electoral commission from handling disputes arising from party nominations, leaving it to concentrate on registering nominated by the political parties.
Lawmakers want disputes arising from party primaries to be handled by the Elections Disputes Tribunal and not the IEBC.
Article 88 (4) (e) of the Constitution states that the commission “is responsible for the settlement of electoral disputes, including disputes relating to or arising from nominations but excluding election petitions and disputes subsequent to the declaration of election results”.
According to the lawmakers, involvement of the commission in either conducting party primaries or sitting to hear and determine disputes arising from the nomination exercise erodes political parties’ independence.
“We have to delete the role of the IEBC in the settlement of electoral disputes, including disputes relating to or arising from nominations,” said Mr George Murugara, the chairman of the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee.
“I believe the IEBC has no business in party nominations. Parties are clubs. If they decide they want to give me a direct ticket, so be it. Why should the IEBC get involved?” posed Ugenya MP David Ochieng’.
The lawmakers have also questioned the high budgetary request from the commission to conduct the 2027 polls.
Mr Ochieng said parliament cannot continue to allocate billions of shillings every electioneering period, calling on IEBC to have a permanent solution such as having their own system that will only need maintenance.
“The IEBC should determine which system they want and purchase it. Once they acquire it, they will own that system and all the rights related to it. Therefore, every election year, as new technology emerges, they can simply update their system,” Mr Ochieng said.
According to Molo MP Kuria Kimani, the cost of printing a banknote with enhanced security features is just Sh6.84, yet it costs Sh2,000 to print one ballot paper.
“If our notes can be printed at Sh6.84 in Germany, there is no way you can tell us that because we have security features on a ballot paper, then it costs us Sh2,000,” Mr Kimani said. “The Committee must look at the cost and make sure that the cost of elections does not become too expensive.”
Lawmakers have, however, yet to consider other proposals by the commission such as prosecutorial powers on electoral related matters and amendment or annulment of regulations in order to allow it to register Kenyans in diaspora outside the current designated areas.
The commission is also pushing an amendment stipulating that nomination party lists “shall contain alternates between male and female”. The law does not specify which gender should come first, but the commission wants nomination lists to commence with the name of a female candidate.
