- Aspirants and party members showed up at polling stations to cast votes, oblivious to the fact that direct tickets had been issued.
- Negotiated democracy refers to the practice of agreeing how to distribute political positions in advance of an election.
Image: WILFRED NYANGARESI
The high number of negotiated and consensus-building meetings political parties held prior to nominations stifled democracy, the Election Observation Group has said.
In its report on party primaries that ended on April 22, ElOG said there were too many cases of negotiated democracy, which denied some Kenyans the opportunity to seek elective positions.
According to the report, the number of negotiated democracies across all the political parties significantly increased when compared to the 2017 elections.
ELOG chairperson Anne Ireri said aspirants eyeing various seats had hoped to face rivals in party primaries.
She said some aspirants had even spent time and money campaigning, only for the tickets to be handed to other people after consensus meetings.
She spoke at a Nairobi hotel during the launch of the report on Thursday
“Some of the aspirants and party members showed up in polling stations to cast votes oblivious of the fact that direct tickets had been issued,” she added.
Negotiated democracy refers to the practice of agreeing how to distribute political positions in advance of an election.
The term became popular following the introduction of devolution in 2010.
Ireri said, however, that rules and regulations of parties provide for direct nomination as one of the means to select a candidate.
The report further said the secrecy of the ballot was observed only in seven per cent of the polling stations, raising fundamental concerns on the sanctity of the vote.
“In all the ODM polling stations where ELOG deployed observers, overcrowding was reported around where the gadgets were,” the report added.
The report added that employment of digital voting system by ODM in all its polling stations was commendable. It said this effectively eliminated the use of strategic materials such as ballot boxes, ballot papers, result declaration forms, party register and indelible ink.
“However, the technology experienced some hitches leading to some of the voters to have doubts on security of their votes.
"This was witnessed in Kisumu where our observers reported an incident of disgruntled voters, when one of the voting gadgets failed and required a password to unlock, forcing voters to wait unnecessarily longer for the unlocking of the gadgets,” Ireri said.
ELOG is a national platform that comprises Civil Societies Organisations including Faith-Based Organisations. Its mandate is to strengthen democracy in Kenya and in African through promoting transparent and accountable electoral processes.
ELOG deployed a two-tier methodology in observing the political party primaries; stationary observation and roving observation.
A total of 102 observers were trained and deployed to monitor the political party primaries in selected constituencies where ODM, Wiper, Jubilee, DAP-K, UDA, Kanu, ANC, Ford-K, Narc K, PNU, MCC and Narc parties were scheduled to conduct primaries.
Each of the 102 monitors was assigned and deployed to a polling station where they would serve as stationary observers.
Similarly, ELOG deployed 30 roving observers in Nyanza, Elgeyo Marakwet, Nakuru, Meru, Kisumu, Nairobi, Kiambu and Mombasa counties between April 14 to April 22.
The report further noted that 90 per cent of the polling stations observed were easily accessible to persons living with disability while 10 per cent were not.
“While this is a marked improvement from the 2017 nomination exercise, it is important that all political parties take positive steps in ensuring all polling stations are accessible to all members,” Ireri said.
ELOG’s also expressed concern about the increased instances of violence around critical electoral processes, especially as witnessed in all the by-elections.
“This pattern was reported in 25 per cent of the polling stations where ELOG observers were,” the report read,
ELOG observers reported the use of the 2017 IEBC voter register in all the polling stations for UDA, ANC, Ford Kenya, and the Wiper party while the ODM party used its membership list.
The report recommended that all parties maintain and use their own party membership registers to conduct primaries as provided for in the law.
“Use of any other lists apart from the party membership list alienates and disenfranchises registered members of the party,” it said.
-Edited by SKanyara