Thirty-seven provisionally registered political parties have until around November 11 to complete the registration process if they want to participate in Kenya’s 2027 General Election, the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties says.
Speaking on Radio Generation on Monday, Assistant Registrar of Political Parties Agatha Wahome said 99 parties are already fully registered and eligible to take part in the election, while the 37 provisional parties are at different stages of completing the requirements.
“There are those that are in the process of registration, and for any party that has not yet been given full registration certificate, then we are on the last days,” Wahome said.
She said the parties needed to be fully registered before submitting their nomination rules as electoral timelines continue to run.
“I think the date should be around 11th of November thereabout. They need to be fully registered because the timelines for IEBC are already ticking,” she said.
Some of the 37 parties are undergoing final verification of their offices, a process that will determine whether they meet the requirements for full registration.
“Some of them will go through, and some of them may not go through,” Wahome said, adding that she could not predict how many of the provisional parties would eventually receive full registration.
The registrar’s office is also preparing political parties for the next stages of the electoral process, including submission of nomination rules and party primaries.
Wahome said the office is training internal dispute resolution committees and elections boards ahead of party nominations, while political party agents will also be trained later.
“We will also be preparing the parties for what we call party primaries,” she said.
According to Wahome, registration of political parties is conducted in two broad stages — provisional and full registration.
The first stage involves reserving a party name, abbreviation, colours and slogan. The reservation is valid for a maximum of 90 days, within which an applicant must apply for provisional registration.
Applicants must also prepare a party constitution, nomination rules and ideology, as well as hold a founding meeting involving at least three members while observing the two-thirds gender principle.
Once issued, a provisional registration certificate is valid for 270 days, during which the party must complete the requirements for full registration.
These include establishing a website, recruiting at least 1,000 registered voters in each of at least 24 counties, and maintaining gender and special-interest-group representation.
A party must also establish a head office and branch offices in at least half of Kenya’s 47 counties.
The registrar then verifies membership through integration with the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission and physically verifies the offices before issuing a full registration certificate.
“It’s a process that takes time, and once now you have the full registration certificate, you can now go ahead,” Wahome said.