Political parties registrar cleanup removes voters’ names from lists

More than 600,000 voters have been removed as members of political parties in a major clean-up by the Registrar of Political Parties. 

The ORPP uses electronic platforms to allow voters to check their status with an option of resigning if they find themselves listed wrongly.

Registrar of Political Parties Anne Nderitu said: “The political parties are expected to use their membership register during nominations. The membership data should be credible.” 

She added: “The office is cleaning up the membership register in readiness for certification through a partnership with e-citizen.” Under e-citizen, individuals can check their membership status as well as register or resign from a political party. Members can also use the USSD code provided by the office.

So far, more than 600,000 people have resigned from various parties using the provided platforms. A total of 313,362 resigned through e-citizen while an additional 294,651 resigned using the USSD code.

“As of February 28, the number of people who accessed the system using e-citizen was more than 1.5 million while those who have resigned from political parties were more than 300,000. Those who registered as members of political parties were 205,393,” said Nderitu.

She added: “The people who have accessed the system through USSD code *509# were 624,746 while those who resigned using the code were 294,651.”

The exercise seeks to weed out double and illegal registration as part of the implementation of a recently enacted law that states only registered party members can participate in the nominations.

Parties had enlisted members without their knowledge in what saw voters listed as members of more than one party. The law requires political parties to submit party membership lists to the ORPP by March 26, at least 14 days before submission of the lists to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.

Parties will also be required to clean up their membership list before submitting it to the ORPP for certification.

 Deputy President William Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance National Elections Board chair Anthony Mwaura recently announced that the new outfit has 6.6 million members.

According to the law, a political party is required to request a certified party register at least 21 days before the date of its party nominations. The electoral commission has set April 22 as the deadline for party primaries.

The law provides that a political party is at liberty to use either the direct or indirect nomination to pick a candidate.