SOME small parties were yesterday strengthened by the arrival of dissatisfied veteran politicians who lost in the nominations.

Some TNA aspirants were reported to be seeking certificates from other parties allied to Jubilee Coalition which is spearheaded by Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta.

Former Limuru MP Peter Mwathi has moved to Narc while former Ol Kalou MP Erastus Mureithi also ditched TNA for Agano Party citing anomalies in the nominations.

Nyaribari Chache MP Robert Monda also moved from TNA to Narc which is a constituent member of the Jubilee Coalition.

Labour Party of Kenya, Grand National Union and Peoples Democratic Party are all attracting aspirants who fear that they may be locked out from the nominations of ODM, TNA, UDF and Wiper.

"We would like to reiterate its commitment to providing a free and fair nomination exercise across the country. TNA would like to categorically state that no aspirant has been given a direct ticket," TNA director of communication Machel Waikenda said in a statement yesterday.

By yesterday afternoon some areas had not received voting materials while some ballot papers had some names or positions missing.

Printing of the TNA ballot papers was still going on on Thursday causing the delay.

Changes still being made on the ballots late into the night on Wednesday following meetings to avert possible political fallout, especially in Nairobi.

Major political parties were, the entire week, busy working on various modalities of retaining losers in the primaries which were expected to be very competitive.

In many areas a nomination ticket almost guarantees aspirants a win in the general elections.

Yesterday midnight was the final deadline set by the Registrar of Political Parties for changing party before the election.

Political parties were trying to minimise members moving to other parties by delaying their nomination days.

Initially, the Elections provided nominees must have been members of that party for at least three months before an election.

MPs altered the Act to allow politicians to switch parties until the last day set by the IEBC for parties to present their lists.

Some parties yesterday claimed to have to have been busy issuing some prominent politicians with nomination certificates ahead of the deadline.

"Quietly we have reaping. There are people who feel that the field in the so-called big parties is too congested," said LPK's Julia Ojiambo, Kalonzo Musyoka's running mate in 2007.

"We cannot give names now but there are many people who have approached us and we have cleared them. But this is just the beginning because we are expecting many more today (Friday),"she said.

PDP's chairman Stephen Nyarangi said that in special cases the party is granting direct nominations to politicians of other parties.

"We are ready and willing to receive many more. In fact we are telling the big parties to watch out because ours is a free and fair process unlike theirs where only those who have big money to spend are handed nomination certificates."

Assistant minister Mwangi Kiunjuri's Grand National Union has also issued certificates in areas where there has been heavy competition for the TNA tickets.