•The parties have shifted their focus to preparing the party lists, the particulars of presumptive nominees to the National Assembly, Senate and County Assemblies.
•Already some of the aspirants who lost in the primaries have joined the national presidential campaigns with the hope of landing the slots.
Image: BRIAN ORUTA
Jostling has intensified in the country's two major political parties - ODM and UDA - as bigwigs and ticket losers position themselves for nomination slots.
This even as the parties warned the nomination seats will be handed out based on merit, commitment and sheer hard work during the campaigns.
The parties have shifted their focus to preparing the party lists - the particulars of presumptive nominees to the National Assembly, Senate and County Assemblies.
Already some of the aspirants who lost in the primaries have joined the national presidential campaigns with the hope of landing the slots.
Parties have until June 11 to get certification and clearance from the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties before submitting the names to the electoral commission by June 25.
The ORPP is supposed to confirm the lists of those submitted by the political parties are legitimate party members.
Deputy President William Ruto's UDA and Raila Odinga's ODM parties are expected to select the nominees after vetting the applicants for the limited slots.
The ODM party which had announced party-list vacancies for the National Assembly, the Senate and all the 47 county assemblies, closed the deadline on May 6.
Ruto's UDA sent out the announcement on Wednesday, opening the window for bigwigs and those who fell at the nominations to battle for the few slots in Parliament and at the county assemblies.
“We have placed the notice calling for applications from interested party members,” UDA secretary general Veronica Maina said.
The official said only members who meet the strict criteria under the rules of the nomination will be selected even as hundreds are expected to try their luck.
The ODM party said those who will be nominated will be members of good standing and those who have served the party diligently.
“The seats available to us will depend on the number of seats we shall have won in all levels. What is important for now is to ensure we work hard to win as many seats as possible,” ODM secretary general Edwin Sifuna said.
According to the Constitution, political parties have 16 nomination slots in the Senate distributed on the parties' numerical strength in the House.
They are entitled to nominate two members, one man and one woman, representing the youth.
There are also two other members, one man and one woman, representing persons with disability.
In the National Assembly, political parties are entitled to 12 members according to their proportion of members to represent special interests including the youth, persons with disability and workers.
In the county assemblies, parties are required to nominate people representing the gender top-up category for each county assembly and a list of nominees representing the marginalized groups.
Party leaders have previously been accused of dishing the slots to their cronies and girlfriends instead of allowing qualified Kenyans to occupy them.
Party loyalty has also been used as a barometer to knock out qualified Kenyans with parties often on the defence for rewarding nomination losers.
ODM and UDA are expected to control the national assembly, the senate and some county assemblies given the number of candidates they have fielded for the August polls.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris