By MKT Correspondent
The Office of the Registrar of Political Parties (ORPP) on Tuesday hosted a delegation from the European Platform for Democratic Elections (EPDE), an Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC)-accredited observer mission that is in the country for tomorrow’s by-elections and engagements with key electoral stakeholders.
The delegation represents more than 10 countries within EPDE’s wider network, which spans over 13 European nations.
EPDE focuses on citizen-oriented election observation and promotes peer learning and collaboration among observer missions and electoral institutions.
Welcoming the delegation, the Registrar emphasized that independent scrutiny of Kenya’s democratic processes is important for strengthening the country’s institutions.
“Independent assessment of our democracy is welcome, acknowledging the milestones we have made as a country guided by the current constitutional order, including the wide array of political rights under our multiparty democracy,” the Registrar said. The Office noted that it has hosted delegations from more than 15 countries for benchmarking since the last election.
Assistant Registrar Florence Birya highlighted ORPP’s commitment to learning from comparable global best practices to enhance its efficiency and strengthen its statutory instruments.
“The ORPP Kenya is keen to take stock of best practices to improve its efficiency and statutory instruments relating to its role in the election from such observer missions, signifying Kenya’s transparent electoral process,” she said.
Her counterpart, Assistant Registrar CS Agatha, reaffirmed the Office’s readiness to share knowledge and good practices with aligned agencies as part of ongoing efforts to improve the electoral process.
During the meeting, the ORPP team briefed the delegation on the full scope of political party management in Kenya. Areas covered included registration of political parties and coalitions, management of party membership, the political parties funding model, compliance and enforcement mechanisms, adherence to the Parties’ Code of Conduct, capacity-building initiatives, information-sharing, and citizen awareness.
The EPDE is a signatory to the Declaration of Global Principles for Nonpartisan Election Observation and the Code of Conduct for Nonpartisan Election Observation.
It is also a member of the Global Network of Domestic Election Monitors (GNDEM).
The observer mission is expected to monitor the by-elections and continue engagements with institutions involved in safeguarding electoral integrity.
