Eight presidential candidates fail to secure enough signatures

Presidential candidate Mohamed Abduba Dida (Courtesy)

NAIROBI—At least eight presidential hopefuls risk disqualification after they failed to secure at least 2000 signatures from across the 47 counties in Kenya.

The signatures are a mandatory requirements for presidential aspirants and Sunday is the deadline for presentation.

On Thursday afternoon, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission said more than half of the candidates are yet to submit the requirement.

Independent candidates for the post have also been challenged to present 2000 signatures of Kenyans who are not members of any party.

Similar criteria is used for candidates sponsored by political parties.

Prominent candidates who featured in the last presidential elections, seasoned politicians and lawyers are among the candidates set to miss out on the final list.

There are 16 presidential candidates this year including President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM’s Raila Odinga.

Some of the candidates have dismissed the process, saying their names were not published in the gazette.

Nazlin Omar has threatened to go to court to challenge the final list of the presidential candidates arguing that their names were not published in the gazette before setting out to honour the IEBC requirement.

After the filter, the presidential candidates will have an opportunity to sell their agenda to millions of Kenyans in a televised live debate organized by all media houses ahead of the August poll.

The second of its kind Presidential debate following the promulgation of the constitution, will be conducted in three phases in which Deputy presidential candidates will also be interviewed.

The debates will be broadcast simultaneously by all media houses on radio, television and online platforms between 10th and 24th of July.

“We in the media continue to keep Kenyans and the world updated on the ongoing political campaigns as well as all other developments related to the General Election. As part of our duty and contribution to a successful election, we are pleased to announce today that we, national broadcasters,  have once again come together to organize televised presidential debates ahead of the general election” announced Wachira Waruru, the Steering Committee chairman.