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IEBC: We’ll conduct all 24 by-elections this year
Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission chairperson Erastus Ethekon (centre), CEO Marjan Hussein Marjan (left) and Vice Chairperson Fahima Araphat Abdallah address the media at Pride Inn Paradise in Shanzu, Mombasa County on July 19, 2025.
What you need to know:
- Parliament is expected to issue new writs declaring vacancies in some seven parliamentary seats to trigger by-elections.
- A writ is a formal written order issued by a Speaker communicating a vacancy in a parliamentary seat to trigger a by-election.
The electoral agency has said all the 24 pending by-elections will be conducted this year, even as it maintained that the next General Election will be held in August 2027.
The development comes as the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) allayed fears of secret plans to “steal” the upcoming elections.
Speaking during a media stakeholders’ engagement yesterday, IEBC chairperson Erastus Ethekon said the commission’s elections operations committee is working on the timelines for the by-elections with the calendar set to be released in a week’s time.
He pointed out that the plan by the electoral agency is to finalise all the pending mini polls in the course of 2025.
“We will announce the calendar for the by-elections in a week or so and finalise all of them in the course of the year,” said Mr Ethekon.
“The elections operations committee will give a way forward on how we will conduct the mini polls. We are working round the clock to ensure we meet the timelines,” he added.
Parliament is expected to issue new writs declaring vacancies in some seven parliamentary seats to trigger by-elections following the expiry of the previous ones. The other 17 by-elections are for ward seats in counties.
Some of the vacant seats have been without elected leaders for more than two years.
Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission chairperson Erastus Ethekon (centre), flanked by fellow commissioners, addresses the media at Pride Inn Paradise in Shanzu, Mombasa County on July 19, 2025.
Mr Ethekon said previous writs had expired. A writ is a formal written order issued by a Speaker communicating a vacancy in a parliamentary seat to trigger a by-election.
Under Article 101(4)(b) of the Constitution, by-elections must be held within 90 days of issuance of a writ by the speaker – unless the vacancy occurs within six months of a General Election.
The seven parliamentary seats include six National Assembly seats, namely Ugenya, Kasipul, Mbeere North, Banisa, Magarini, and Malava constituencies, and the Baringo senatorial seat.
While the commission needs more than Sh1 billion for the by-elections, it has only received Sh788 million.
Budgetary allocation
However, Mr Ethekon had earlier said that the commission’s secretariat has been liaising with both Parliament and the National Treasury to secure the necessary budgetary allocation.
During the event, it was announced that the commission’s vice-chairperson Fahima Abdallah will be in charge of the finance and procurement committee, while commissioner Ann Nderitu will be in charge of the election operations committee.
Mr Moses Alutalala will take charge of voter education, partnerships, stakeholder engagement and communication, with Ms Mary Karen Sorobit being in charge of the legal and compliance committee.
Prof Francis Aduol will lead the boundaries and delimitation and ICT committee, with the human resource committee being under Mr Hassan Noor Hassan.
On the date of the next polls, Mr Ethekon said the elections will be held in August 2027 as per the schedule unless there are lawful court orders to the contrary.
This comes after some three petitioners went to court seeking to have it declare that the next presidential election should take place in August 2026.
And responding to statements by a section of politicians that they will do “everything including stealing votes” to ensure President William Ruto is re-elected, he said nothing like that can happen.
The IEBC boss said the new Commission will be open and transparent and will not “tint its windows from inside”.
