IEBC gives Kalonzo until Sunday 9am to comply with presidential polls requirements

Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka has expressed interest in the presidency. [File, Standard]

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has given Wiper presidential aspirant Kalonzo Musyoka until 9am on Sunday, May 29, to comply, if he still wants to be in the Uhuru Kenyatta succession race.

The IEBC said in a letter on Saturday night, May 28, that Wiper Party submitted the wrong format of softcopy list of people supporting Musyoka’s presidential bid.

IEBC chairperson Wafula Chebukati said Musyoka’s Party submitted the list in PDF format instead of Excel format as demanded by the electoral agency.

Chebukati said the list ought to have been submitted by May 25.

He further stated that the list must include the names, respective signatures and identity card or passport numbers of at least 2,000 voters registered in at least 24 counties in Kenya.

Chebukati emphasised that the list must be submitted in standard A4 sheets of paper, and in an electronic form.

IEBC said it held a meeting with all presidential aspirants on May 19 and re-emphasised that aspirants must submit the list of supporters in both hardcopy and softcopy Excel format.

Chebukati said the electoral board, consequently, extended the date of submission of lists of supporters in the prescribed format to May 25 “to enable aspirants comply”.

“However, by the said-deadline, Wiper Party had submitted all requirements except for the softcopy version of the list of supporters, which was submitted in PDF format and not Excel,” said Chebukati.

Wiper Party on May 25 asked IEBC to allow it more time to comply, a request that Chebukati accepted on Saturday, May 28.

“The Commission has considered and acceded Wiper Party’s request to be allowed to submit the softcopy of its list of supporters in Excel format by [Sunday], May 29, 2022 at 9am at the Bomas of Kenya [in Nairobi], failure of which the Party’s documentation will not be certified as compliant, [and, as a result, disqualify Kalonzo Musyoka’s presidential bid in the upcoming elections],” said Chebukati in a letter addressed to Wiper Party’s National Elections Board (NEB) chairperson Agatha Solitei.

A section of the media had reported on Friday, May 27 and Saturday, May 28 that Musyoka had already been disqualified from the presidential race for non-compliance.

Solitei took issue with the reporting, saying the media outlets “reported on a process that had not ended as per the IEBC’s timelines”.

“That is not only unprofessional, but incorrect and in absolute bad faith,” she said in a press statement.

“We, the Wiper Democratic Movement Party Elections Board, reminds the Fourth Estate of their crucial role in the promotion of honest and accurate reportage, and remind them that we are bound by the Electoral Code of Conduct at all times while discharging our constitutional rights,” said Solitei.