Deputy President William Ruto will vie for presidency under the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party ticket and not under the Kenya Kwanza outfit, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has confirmed.
The DP is among the 14 presidential aspirants who have submitted their bids to IEBC to contest for the top seat under their political parties’ tickets.
In a statement on Wednesday, May 18, 2022, IEBC confirmed that only one candidate would vie for the presidency under a coalition political party, which is Raila Odinga under Azimio la Umoja – One Kenya Alliance. 40 candidates will seek to succeed President Uhuru Kenyatta as independent candidates.
IEBC has also invited presidential aspirants or their authorized representatives for a meeting on May 23, 2022, at the Bomas of Kenya, which will precede registration of all aspirants countrywide between May 29 and June 7, 2022.
“The Commission’s Returning Officers shall register candidates to contest for various elective seats in a candidate registration exercise that will run from the 29th of May to 7th June 2022. Prior to the said registration, the Returning Officers shall hold pre-nomination meetings with Aspirants, to among others, brief them on the requirements and procedures for registration of candidates,” IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati said.
IEBC further said it had received a total of 244 gubernatorial aspirants as of May 16, 2022, out of which 167 are political party aspirants and 77 independent candidate aspirants.
The Presidential and Gubernatorial aspirants will be cleared as candidates by the Presidential Returning Officer and the County Returning Officers respectively, during the registration period, once their qualifications to contest in the respective elective positions are ascertained.
