The National Super Alliance has an ace up their sleeve in
ensuring no election takes place on October 26 if the Independent Electoral and
Boundaries Commission does not meed their irreducible minimums demands.
According to Otiende Amollo, the Member of Parliament for
Rarieda, NASA are basing their argument on Article 138 (2) of the 2010
Constitution to ensure no election will take place.
Speaking to KTN on Monday, September 25, Amollo said if one
or more constituencies have no returns on elections, by law, that election will
be invalidated.
The opposition then backs their argument with the above
Article that states: “If two or more candidates for President are nominated, an
election will be held in each constituency.” NASA is solely relying on the ‘each
constituency’ premise in the Article. According to the NASA legal think tank,
these particular words would nullify a presidential election boycotted by
voters in any constituency within NASA strongholds.
It will be through this that NASA will see to it that IEBC
meets its demands before any election is held. Attorney General Githu Muigai
was of a different opinion when he said he has never heard of an election being
invalidated on the basis of “where was the other party on the day of the
election”.
“If NASA’s issues are not addressed, then there will be no
election on October 26. It’s no longer a question of boycotting but one of
there no being election,” said Amollo.
An opinion by Constitutional lawyer Bobby Mkangi, who helped
draft the 2010 constitution, was that if the IEBC put in place all the required
facilities for an election take place in a constituency, it would be difficult
for one to say the election was not held. “An election will be deemed to have
happened irrespective of how low the voter turn out.The only recourse would be
to challenge the election
outcome in court. The focus must now be on why a
certain part of the electorate would choose not to participate in the election.
It can no longer be business as usual,” added Mkangi.
“It has been our hope that the IEBC will become sensible and
stop being opaque and covering itself,” concluded Amollo. NASA has been
demanding for the exit of IEBC CEO Ezra Chiloba and that French IT firm Safran
Morpho not transmit the results and Duabi’s Al Ghurair printing firm have no
role in the repeat election.
This could be Raila Odinga’s ultimate game changer and
experts are calling on NASA and Jubilee to work together to ensure that a free,
fair and credible election is held.
