Nairobi — The race for the East Africa Legislative Assembly (EALA) entered the homestretch on Thursday as Members of the National Assembly lined up to pick nine representatives.
Twenty-seven nominees from both Kenya Kwanza Alliance (15) and the Azimio La Umoja One Kenya (12) were grouped in two clusters to facilitate the voting process.
Kenya Kwanza was expected to produce five members while Azimio will have four.
A ballot will be considered spoilt if any legislator exceeds the set threshold for each of the two coalitions namely; five for Kenyan Kwanza and four for Azimio.
"The person who shall be declared elect in the Kenya Kwanza Alliance will be the five nominees who garner the highest number of votes who must include at least two of either gender," Speaker Moses Wetangula directed before the exercised commenced.
The Clerk of the National Assembly Samuel Njoroge will be the presiding officers of the voting process to pick Kenya's representatives who will sit in the Arusha-based regional assembly.
A similar process will be conducted in the Senate before votes garnered by candidates are summed and results declared jointly by Njoroge and his Senate counterpart.
Kenya Kwanza had endorsed five of its candidates following an internal vote during a Parliamentary Group at State House on Wednesday.
The five are: former Mombasa Senator Hassan Omar, ex-Nominated Senator David Sankok (Narok), former Nandi Woman Representative Zipporah Kering, former United Republican Party (URP) Secretary General Fredrick Muteti (Makueni) and former Nominated Senator Falhada Dekow.
The alliance's list of cleared candidates however includes former Balambala MP Abdikadir Aden (Garissa), Nairobi lawyer Okengo Nyambane who quit the Kisii gubernatorial race and Saboti constituency aspirant Jonas Kuko,
Anne Too, the first born daughter of former long serving Criminal Investigations Department Director the late Noah Arap Too, former Igembe Central MP Cyprian Kubai and former West Pokot Woman Representative Lilian Cheptoo are also in the list.
Rebecca Merikeju (Turkana), Godfrey Maina Karobia (Muranga), Yasser Ali Sheikh(Mombasa) and Salim Mohammed Busidy (Lamu) have also been listed.
In the Azimio La Umoja One Kenya cluster, the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) has presented six nominees
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
The six include Raila Odinga's daughter Winnie Odinga, businessman Suleiman Shahbal and the party's treasurer Timothy Bosire.
Also on the list is former Shinyalu MP Justus Kizito who was trounced by Fred Ikana (ANC, Kenya Kwanza) in the August 9 General Election.
Former Wajir MP Mohamed Diriye and Beatrice Askul who was part of the selection panel vetting Odinga's running mate in the August 9th polls is also in the race.
ODM ringfenced two slots while Wiper Party and Jubilee party are entitled to one slot each, despite having nominated 3 members for elections.
Wiper Leader Kalonzo Musyoka fronted his son Kennedy for the slot. He served in 4th assembly from 2017-2022.
From the Jubilee, Secretary General Jeremiah Kioni, the Director of Elections Kanini Kega and former Wajir Woman Representative Fatuma Gedi are eyeing the EALA slots.
