Kenya’s single largest party Orange Democratic Movement will issue direct nominations to special candidates in 2017 elections, party Chairperson John Mbadi has confirmed.
Mr Mbadi had earlier on Friday while in Nyamira also revealed that the party will hold nominations on February and March next year to avoid last minute defections during 2017 elections.
And on Sunday in a telephone interview, Mbadi said the party strategic committee had zoned the country into three regions namely Zone A, B and C which they will use for issuance of certificates and nominations before elections.
“Zone A is grey areas where we are at loggerheads with our opponents. Here we will scout a candidate, give him or her direct ticket without nominations and even fund the campaign to weaken our opponents,” he said.
“In Zone B, this is areas where the party is very strong and no threat from enemies. In these regions, those who want the party ticket must be subjected to party primaries and the popular candidate will be given the ticket based on the results. Our stronghold needs less campaign so the party will not concentrate much in campaigns for the candidate,” added Mr Mbadi.
He also said the party will be keen to win a few seats in Zone C, regions that their open and are quite popular to neutralise them in terms of getting numbers in both parliament and local county assemblies.
“In Zone C where our opponents are popular, we are going to issue direct tickets so that we fully fund the candidate so at least try to win a few of those seats. All we want is to neutralise our opponents in their strongholds,” said Mbadi.