Lawyer takes aim at electoral commission

A lawyer has filed a case in court seeking to halt Kenya’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission's directive for political parties to comply with a two-thirds gender rule. Capital FM reports that Adrian Kamotho claimed the commission never undertook any public participation prior to its announcement. He argued in his petition that public participation as required under Articles 10 and 88 (5) of the Constitution did not happen. ‘Whereas some political parties have exceeded the threshold of male nominees, other parties have exceeded the threshold for female nominees thus necessitating a more meticulous approach to the gender balancing challenge, as opposed to the simplistic and rigid stance preferred by the respondent,’ he argues.