•Eyes are on how IEBC would handle the Mombasa governor race.
•The last batch of ballot papers to arrive in the country by July 31.
Image: IEBC HANDOUT
Voting will be postponed in electoral areas where court orders stand to interfere with the August 9 timelines, polls agency IEBC said on Tuesday.
IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati said the court decisions coming late drastically affect the timelines of the electoral management body, which may have little or no option but to push forward the voting.
“When it becomes impossible for us to perform our functions, we postpone the election for that specific area,” Chebukati told journalists on Monday.
The IEBC boss said Kenyans and election stakeholders must appreciate the consequences of any delays in the polling processes.
“Court orders have to be obeyed but there are consequences that if we are thrown out of the timelines, we have to make a very hard decision,” Chebukati said.
He was responding to media queries on the commission’s next steps following the court ruling allowing presidential candidate Reuben Kigame a second chance to present his nomination papers.
The evangelist was among 13 aspirants that the IEBC locked out of the presidential race, leaving four to fight it out for President Uhuru Kenyatta's succession.
Justice Anthony Mrima allowed Kigame to present his papers to the IEBC a second time and for the same to be reviewed and subsequently approved by the polls agency.
He, however, declined to order the electoral commission to include Kigame’s name on the ballot, leaving his future in the hands of the IEBC.
Former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko has also moved to the East African Court of Justice to seek redress on the Supreme Court ruling which locked him out of the Mombasa Governor race.
Sonko has also applied for a review of the Supreme Court ruling – at the apex court, with the direction on the matter scheduled for next Monday.
The commission has since declared the former governor is disqualified from the county race.
Until Monday, the IEBC was yet to get clear for the Machakos Governor race – in terms of printing of ballot papers, in the suit against Wiper candidate Wavinya Ndeti.
Chebukati said they would announce the way forward after a briefing by the commission’s legal team saying they already have challenges with cases where ballot paper printing is already ongoing.
“I believe the team will advise us on how we can approach this. But even if you are talking about reprinting ballot papers, we must look at the time left, and the cost of reprinting,” he added.
On Sonko, the IEBC chairman said the legal team would advise the commission on the EACJ jurisdiction saying it was a question of international law.
“Those are the issues we are looking at as we discuss with our legal counsels. Our legal team will advise us on whether the commission is bound by the EACJ decision.”
This was even as the commission announced that the last batches of ballot papers are expected in the country by July 31.
IEBC CEO Hussein Marjan disclosed that the commission expects to receive all the ballot papers for the six contested seats, for all constituencies, by that time.
“I am unable to state how many ballot papers have arrived. We have received pallets. We are going to receive around 3,800 pallets which will have ballot papers for the six seats,” Marjan said.
On Tuesday, a team of election stakeholders left the country in the company of IEBC commissioners to inspect the printing of presidential ballot papers at Greece’s Inform Lykos.
IEBC vice-chair Juliana Cherera, Francis Wanderi and Boya Molu were among those who were selected for the trip.
UDA dispatched Turkana Governor Josphat Nanok while Azimio would be represented by Ben Agina and Velma Maumo.
ELOG chairperson Anne Ireri is also part of the delegation that also has religious leaders led by NCCK secretary Canon Chris Kinyanjui.
The team was to leave on Tuesday morning but the plans changed for the evening after some of the visas were delayed.