WHY KIGAME DOES NOT QUALIFY TO RUN FOR PRESIDENCY

The IEBC has moved to court appealing a recent order from the High Court that instructed IEBC to once again review Paul Kigame’s Presidential nomination papers.⁣
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According to the electoral commission, the court order presents a number of legal and practical challenges why the move will jeopardise the holding of presidential elections on August 9, 2022.⁣
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One of the legal reasons cited is the failure for Kigame to comply to Article 137 of the Constitution that requires a candidate for a presidential election to be “nominated by not fewer than two thousand voters from each of a majority of the counties”.⁣
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The independent candidate had only presented a list of 1,013 supporters as at May 25, which was the set deadline for submission of the list of nominating supporters.⁣
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The commission further highlighted the courts’ inability to present the list of supporters who claim to have nominated Kigame as their official presidential candidate.⁣
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“The list of supporters referred to by the Court has not been presented to the Commission nor has it been analysed to determine whether the listed nominating supporters meet the prescribed numbers and are registered voters as required,” stated IEBC.⁣
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The final legal reason stipulated by the commission includes a number of steps and procedures that had already been followed to ensure that the election gets underway in about 19 days.⁣
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According to the Wafula Chebukati-led commission, these steps can not be repeated as they risk delaying or in the worse case postponing the elections if repeated again