The High Court has temporarily halted the IEBC decision requiring political parties to nominate candidates for the August General Election in accordance with the two-thirds gender principle.
Following a request by a Nairobi-based lawyer, Mr Adrian Kamotho, who is challenging the legality of the commission’s decision, Justice Anthony Ndung’u issued the temporary order yesterday.
He went on to say that the lawyer has proven he has a strong case against the notice issued by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) on April 27, 2022, threatening to blacklist candidates from political parties that refuse to follow the gender rule.
Mr Kamotho has filed a lawsuit challenging the electoral commission’s decision to impose communal punishment on all candidates.
He claims that the IEBC’s directive is oppressive and pointless, and that its efforts to enforce the gender-parity rule are likely to be futile.
“The notice issued by the IEBC is discriminatory and prejudicial since it unfairly targets political parties while leaving out the independent candidates who stand an equal chance of winning the elective positions,” says the lawyer.
According to the notice, the deadline for submitting a gender-balanced nomination list is tomorrow (May 12, 2022).
According to Mr Kamotho, the directive came after political parties had generated lists of nominated candidates based on the primaries held.
The IEBC’s directive was based on a court ruling issued on April 20, 2017, mandating that the commission devise an administrative mechanism to ensure that the two-thirds gender principle was implemented among political parties during nominations for parliamentary elections.
