MPs back one-third voter threshold to recall an MP
A recall would need the backing of a third of registered voters in every ward, and the Bill now goes back to the Senate.
Based on reporting by Capital FM, The Mt Kenya Times and Citizen Digital.
MPs in the National Assembly chamber, Nairobi. File photo
The National Assembly on Thursday approved changes to the Elections (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill that would let voters recall their MP if at least one-third of registered voters in every ward of the constituency back the move.
For a senator, the same one-third threshold would apply in every constituency in the county. A recall vote would then be decided by a simple majority of the people who turn out.
MP Kimani Kuria had proposed that half of registered voters in every ward should back a recall. West Mugirango MP Stephen Mogaka moved the amendment that set the figure at one-third. Majority Leader Kimani Ichung'wah argued that many MPs were not themselves elected by half of the registered voters in each ward.
Suna East MP Junet Mohamed warned against repeating what the courts had already rejected. "If we repeat what the court has rejected, we will just be legislating in vain," he said. The High Court struck down the recall sections of the Elections Act in 2017, leaving the right to recall in Article 104 of the Constitution without a working law.
The Bill started in the Senate, so it now returns there. If the two Houses cannot agree on the changes, a mediation committee will try to reconcile them before the Bill can go to the President.
The same Bill also removes the legal requirement for the IEBC to livestream results announced at polling stations, Citizen Digital reported. That change has drawn calls online for protests on Monday, 26 October.
