At least 37 political parties are facing a race against time to secure full registration and qualify to participate in next year’s General Election.
The parties, which are currently holding provisional registration certificates, must meet a number of legal requirements covering membership, leadership and their presence across the country before they can obtain full registration.
The pressure has increased following the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission’s (IEBC) October 15 deadline for political parties to submit their symbols, giving the affected outfits little room to delay the registration process.
The Office of the Registrar of Political Parties (ORPP) requires parties seeking full registration to meet conditions set under the Political Parties Act, including having inclusive governing organs and establishing the required membership base across the counties.
Registrar of Political Parties John Cox Lorionokou has called on parties with provisional certificates to ensure they comply with the law within the set timelines.
“You must be ready to continue meeting legal requirements including inclusion threshold within the governing organs as you strive to the next step to full registration as per the strict timelines,” he said.
Lorionokou spoke after issuing a provisional registration certificate to the Accountability and Transparency Party.
The provisional certificate is only the first step in the registration process. Parties must go through the next stage and satisfy the required conditions before they can be fully registered and position themselves to sponsor candidates in an election.
A major requirement is for a party to establish a broad national membership. An outfit seeking full registration must have at least 1,000 registered voters as members in more than half of Kenya’s 47 counties.
It must also have governing organs that meet the required inclusion threshold, making leadership structures another key area that the parties must address before their applications can proceed.
Among the parties that have not yet attained full registration are the National Economic Development Party, Forum for Economic Development Agenda, Kenya United Generation, Kenya Democracy for Change, Economic Liberation Alliance, The Future Party and Imarisha Uchumi Party.
Others are People’s Forum for Rebuilding Democracy, Alliance for Democratic Association, United Patriotic Movement, National Transformation Party, Conservation of Democracy in Kenya, Msingi wa Utaifa Party and African Development Congress.
The list also includes Forty-Seven Voices of Kenya Congress, Vision for Development Alliance, Hekima Alliance Party, Kenya Ahadi Party, Reformed Patriotic Democrats, Economic Patriotic Alliance and Kenya Liberation Movement.
Accountability and Transparency Party and Achievement Party of Kenya are also among the outfits yet to attain full registration, according to the ORPP official website.
The registration challenge could affect the number of parties seeking to field candidates in the 2027 elections if some fail to meet the requirements in time.
Those unable to complete the process independently could also be pushed towards mergers or coalition arrangements as they seek to remain part of the electoral contest.
With the October 15 deadline approaching, the parties will have to complete the outstanding legal and administrative requirements while also meeting the conditions needed to move from provisional to full registration.