A day after Raila Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) moved its party primaries to the 17th of January, rival party, the United Republican Party (URP) has followed suite and moved its nomination date to the same day.
Insiders say that the change of date of the party primaries by both ODM and URP is informed by the desire to prevent losing aspirants from jumping to other parties given that the IEBC has set January 18th as the deadline for parties to conduct their nominations.
Also given that President Mwai KIbaki assented to the Miscellaneous Law (Amendment) Bill 2012 on New Year ’s Eve, MPs have until the 18th of January to decide which parties they will contest seats in.
Making the announcement of the change date for the party primaries, URP chairman Francis Kaparo said the party will use secret ballot to nominate its aspirants;
“The exercise will end at exactly 2 pm and the results will be announced by 6 pm,” said the former speaker.
Kaparo added that those who are interested in contesting for seats on a URP ticket must hand in their applications by the 15th of January and also ensure that they pay the stipulated fee;
“Those who want to be nominated must apply in writing by 15th January,” he concluded.
-daily post
