Kenya’s political parties are still sloughing through a mountain of complaints arising from party nominations carried out across the country over the weekend. The exercise was marred by sheer incompetence and has elicited strong reactions from party voters across the country. A number of candidates have been assaulted by their opponents who in one instance also threatened to burn down the headquarters of one of the opposition parties.

The part nominations exercise has highlighted a lack of capacity on the part of political parties to oversee free and fair nominations. The most common complaints and irregularities cited have included: non-availability or late arrival of polling materials, omission of candidates’ names from ballot papers, arbitrary alteration of election results, and interference with voting and partisan election officials.

In most instances, losing candidates opted to defect to other political parties rather than lodge complaints with their party elections’ boards to avoid being locked out of the race altogether as the deadline set by the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) to submit the names of candidates drew nearer. The ECK has however extended its earlier deadline to give enable parties sort out the avalanche of complaints before submission of their final list of candidates.

The ECK is expected to formally announce the start of the official campaigns any time soon once the list of party nominees is finalized. The campaigns will run for a minimum 21 days ending at least 48 hours before the polls on December 27.

In the just concluded nominations, over 50 members of parliament who served in the ninth parliament lost out to newcomers. Recent opinion polls have indicated a deep sense of disapproval on the part of most Kenyans with the last parliament. There has been strong indication that the vast majority of the parliamentarians will not be re-elected in the December polls.

Most Kenyans were unhappy with the MPs in the last parliament voting themselves huge perks and allowances rather than addressing their basic concerns such as the high levels of poverty. Half of Kenya’s population lives below the absolute poverty line measured as subsistence on less than $2 a day.