EU poll observers warn against election law review

The European Union elections observer mission has warned President Uhuru Kenyatta against making changes to the electoral laws and said the plan risked impairing the fresh presidential polls.

In a statement issued to the press on Tuesday,3th October, the observer mission said that none of the proposed amendments are vital for the nation in its quest to comply with international standards.

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While faulting some of the changes contained in the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill and the Election Offences (Amendment) Bill, the EU observers said proceeding to pass the proposals before the October polls would be untenable, with the timing being highly questionable.

According to the Daily Nation the observers were concerned by Jubilee legislators’ proposals to give prominence to the manual transmission of results, a reduction of powers of the IEBC chairperson as well as the changes to the composition of the electoral body.

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These, the EU mission said, would weaken safeguards to the electoral process and undermine integrity.

“Changes to the composition of the IEBC and the powers of the chairperson are not appropriate mid-way through an electoral operation. The reduced requirements for a quorum risk inconsistent decision-making,” said EU Observer mission head Marietje Schaake as quoted but The Daily Nation.

Consequently, the mission warned that the demands by both NASA and Jubilee for far-reaching changes to the election management need to coincide with the constitutional requirements for the repeat poll.

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They advised both Jubilee and Nasa to embrace dialogue in order to arrive at a common ground.