Electoral Reform in Kenya Hindered by Political Contentions
“Kenyan Opposition Demands Civil Society Group Participation in Reform Talks”
By: VOA Africa News
March 29, 2007 | Printer Friendly

Kenya’s main opposition party has threatened to abandon discussions with the government on constitutional reform unless the country’s civil society groups are also invited to participate.  Mutula Kilonzo, a leading member of the opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM-Kenya), said “the process for negotiations for essential reforms to facilitate free and fair elections at the end of the year has always involved civil society…[the government] left out civil society.”

Opponents say that the ODM is making “unnecessary demands,” but Kilonzo believes that including Kenyan civil society in the talks is essential because “the bulk of the essential reforms we are pushing for including affirmative action, including the independence, of the electoral commission, all of them are matters that directly engage the civil society in any democracy.” 

Although the elections are not expected to be held until December, the current reform process has already run into several challenges, including disagreements between parties about which MPs should be included on the panel that will spearhead the reform process.  VOA Africa reports that observers fear that these conflicts, coupled with the most recent call for the inclusion of civil society, “could throw the negotiations into a stalemate as the government might reject the opposition’s demands.”

Additional Sources:
http://www.angolapress-angop.ao/noticia-e.asp?ID=520506
http://somalinet.com/news/world/East%20Africa/9116
http://allafrica.com/stories/200703300870.html
http://www.voanews.com/english/Africa/2007-03-27-voa3.cfm