President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga are banking on a raft of changes to end vote-rigging.
Rigging is one of the root causes of post-election violence in every election cycle.
The Building Bridges Initiative spearheaded by the two leaders seeks to remove the provision for an IEBC vice-chairperson to act when the chairman is away.
The proposed amendment to various election laws wants members of the electoral commission equally barred from executing the chairperson’s duties.
The existing law provides that whenever a vacancy occurs in the office of the chairperson, the vice-chairperson shall act as the chairperson. Such appointees exercise powers and responsibilities of the chairperson until the position is filled substantively.
The BBI introduces hefty penalties for those guilty of inducing voters to transfer to an electoral area other than where they were registered.
It seeks to outlaw the use of material incentives, tricks, deception, threats, force, violence or any other unlawful means to induce or compel such transfer.
Perpetrators will be fined Sh4 million or jailed for 12 years, or both, in efforts to contain the unfair transfer of voters.
The law is also being enhanced to provide for a Sh2 million fine or six years in jail for those who harass, intimidate, coerce, or threaten to cause physical harm to a candidate.
IEBC chief executive officer’s term of office has been reduced from five to three years in the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2020.
For autonomy and financial independence, the BBI seeks to establish an IEBC fund from which the polls agency shall manage its affairs.
“The IEBC shall ensure that the cost of administering the election is reasonable and resources allocated for purposes of the election are utilized in a prudent manner,” the proposal reads.
To streamline voter registration, the Uhuru and Raila-led process seeks to provide that listing of voters end 120 days to the election. Currently, registration is closed 60 days to the election, a situation that has been touted as a loophole for listing ghost voters.
Persons convicted of an election offense during the preceding five years will not be registered, the Bill reads.
The IEBC will also be barred from publishing national ID and/or passport numbers of registered voters.
The polls agency will equally be barred from revealing voters’ ethnicity, place of residence, telephone number, or email address.
“The commission shall not collect, record, structure, store, adapt, alter, transmit, disseminate, erase, or destroy, a citizen’s biometric data.”
The IEBC will be required to countercheck its register against information in the population database held by the National Registration Bureau.
The inspection of registers will only be allowed 60 days to the election and without full details of a voter’s ID or passport number. The commission will be compelled to publish the voter register on its website.
Political parties will also be compelled to conclude their nominations in 120 days, from the current 90 days, before the election for the seats contested in a general election.
Parties will have 60 days to conclude a dispute arising from the nomination process from the date such a petition is lodged.
The IEBC would be required to publish an election timetable 18 months to a general election. It should specify the activities to be undertaken during the electoral cycle, the duration of each activity, and the deadline for each activity.
Political party agents will have to ascribe to an oath to abide by the Electoral Code of Conduct. The IEBC is to accredit them by issuing them with identification tags, not less than 48 hours to elections.
Agents who leave or enter polling stations without the permission of the presiding officer will be fined Sh10,000 or jailed for a month.
The IEBC will be required to appoint election officers 90 days to the election.
In the new dispensation, independent candidates will be required to resign from their parties four months before them applying to vie.
On the management of results, a form filled out for the declaration of results at the polling station will be the primary election form.
“All other forms subsequent to it shall be tallies of the final results declared at the polling station,” the bill reads.
The IEBC will also regulate campaign financing from the nomination of candidates to two days before polling.