IEBC to verify referendum signatures in 30 days

The electoral agency will be compelled to verify signatures supporting a referendum bill within 30 days of their presentation by promoters.

In fresh amendments to the Referendum Bill, 2020,  MPs propose that the signatures will not have to be collected from 24 counties.

“The commission shall within 30 days verify that the initiative is supported by at least one million registered voters,” the amendments read.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission took nearly three months to complete the verification of the signatures supporting the Building Bridges Initiative Bill. 

The initial proposal was that a third of the signatures were not to be from one county; and that voters in at least 24 counties were to be represented.

The amendments sponsored by Justice and Legal Affairs Committee chairman Muturi Kigano appears as an effort to avert delays in the referendum process.

"For purposes of a referendum to amend the Constitution by popular initiative pursuant to Article 257 of the Constitution, the promoters of the popular initiative shall collect not less than one million signatures of registered voters,” Kigano's amendments read.

The lawmakers want the Referendum Bill, 2020, tightened to remove the lengthy procedures for approving a referendum question and symbol proposed by the IEBC for purposes of the vote on the bill.

The commission would be required to frame the question within 21 days after receiving a notification from the President or a draft bill from promoters in a popular initiative.

“The Commission shall, within 21 days, frame the question to be determined during the referendum,” Kigano proposes.

The initial proposal was that IEBC was to send the question to Parliament for approval within seven days after framing.

The commission would in this regard be only required to publish the question and symbol in the electronic media and two newspapers of national circulation.

Persons seeking to challenge the outcome of a referendum process will have to file the petitions within 14 days after the date of the declaration of the results, and the same is heard within 30 days.

“If no petition is filed challenging the conduct or result of the referendum within the time limit for making such petitions, the result of the referendum shall be final upon the expiry of that time limit,” the new rules read.

The committee further seeks that an appeal from the High Court in a referendum petition be restricted to matters of law be filed within seven days of the High Court decision, and heard within 21 days.

MPs also want the IEBC compelled to submit the draft bill by promoters to each county assembly for consideration within three months.

Provisions that a bill that is not subject to a referendum shall lapse if rejected in either House have also been removed in the new proposal.

“If either House of Parliament fails to pass the Bill, or the Bill relates to a matter specified in Article 255(1) of the Constitution, the proposed amendment shall be submitted to the people in a referendum,” the new amendment reads.

The proposed law further posits that provisions of the Elections Act and the regulations on the same shall apply, with necessary modifications, as if a referendum were a general election.

MPs have also removed the proposal for national referendum committees, giving the promoters a free hand to organise their affairs.

In a bid to lock out petitioners to delay the process, the law is being changed for courts to consider public interest, expertise, independence and impartiality of persons seeking joinder in poll cases.

“A referendum petition shall be heard in open court. A referendum petition shall be signed by the petitioner or by all petitioners, if more than one,” the laws read.

Lawmakers also want a petition challenging a referendum result prioritised and not tried in the order in which it appears on the cause list made by the registrar.

(Edited by Bilha Makokha)