On June 1, 2022, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) announced that it would be gazetting the list of presidential candidates on June 9, 2022. However, this move has been met with resistance from over 30 registered voters who have filed a court case to block the process.
The petitioners argue that the verification of 2,000 signatures from 24 counties submitted by presidential candidates is flawed because the IEBC does not maintain a register or database of signatures to carry out the verification exercise.
IEBC Chair Wafula Chebukati had mentioned that the voters register was undergoing an audit by KPMG and would be gazetted on June 9, 2022. However, the petitioners argue that the poll commission's exercise of verifying the supporters of all presidential candidates is based on an illegal, inaccurate, and unverifiable register.
The petitioners have listed the Attorney General and IEBC as the 1st and 2nd respondents respectively. They seek the intervention of the court to prevent the IEBC from gazetting the list of presidential candidates, which they argue risks putting the presidential nomination exercise in disarray.
According to the general election regulations gazetted by the commission chair Wafula Chebukati on January 20, the clearance of aspirants was to be run from May 29 to June 7, 2022. So far, only Umoja Summit Party presidential candidate Walter Nyambane has been cleared for the race, while others like Usawa presidential candidate Mwangi Wa Iria have revolted, accusing the IEBC of selling his signatures to other candidates.
