Don’t reward poll losers

The political parties’ selection of Nominated Senators, MPs and MCAs is essential, as it presents an opportunity to pick the best candidates for these special positions. They should, therefore, not be used to reward election losers. It is also a betrayal of the voters to bring into the Senate and the national and county assemblies the very people they have rejected at the ballot.

There is no good reason to change the current system in which parties submit their nomination lists before elections. These slots should not be used to hand the election losers a lifeline to Parliament. The incumbents and aspirants should not be sneaked in after being defeated.

If the proposed law is passed, the parties will submit their nomination lists after the elections set for August 10 next year. Under the current law, the parties submit their nomination lists before the General Election. The lists are then used to fill the seats through proportional representation based on a party’s performance in the poll.

But the proposed law seeks to reverse the timing for the parties to first confirm how many seats they have won before selecting nominees. It appears to have been driven by some current MPs’ anxiety over their increasingly slim re-election chances.

Moving the nominations to be handled after the elections will create opportunities for the losers and some party stalwarts to compete for the slots. This could also undermine the chances of the representatives of the special groups, including women, youth and persons with disabilities, for whom the positions are constitutionally reserved.

In 2022, some 146 of the 290 constituency MPs failed to retain their seats, and 31 of the 47 Woman Representatives, and 31 of the 47 Senators lost their seats.

The nominations by the parties should be used to enhance representation for the benefit of the special groups.

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