Dear Ms. Nyamvula,

Thank you for an interesting question about the nomination of women MPs for reserved seats in Kenya. The iKNOW Politics experts reviewed your question and provided the following recommendations:

Option 1: Allow all voters to participate in the choice of women for the reserved seats as it is done in local elections in Bangladesh. This could require the use of two ballots, with each voter casting one vote for non-reserved seats, and another for the reserved seats. This could be done based on provincial or national lists of women candidates or by creating special electoral districts for the women’s seats.

Option 2: Create a special electoral college representing a combination of different groups in Kenyan society. An existing body could be tasked with this responsibility or a special group could be formed to implement it. Uganda’s experience shows some of the concerns that can arise over how the composition of the electoral college affects where the women MPs’ loyalties lie.

Option 3: Women should create a strategy to convince their party leadership that they can win votes and seats in their district and municipalities and, therefore, they should be nominated for the elections. For example, women can argue that there are more women voters in Kenya than men voters that may increase chances to win seats for the parties.

Please see the full responses from our experts here:

Expert Opinion on the Nomination of Women MPs in Kenya from Sef Ashiagbor, Senior Program Manager, Political Party Programs, National Democratic Institute

Expert Opinion on the Nomination of Women MPs in Kenya from Alvah Hanrahan, Specialist in Women’s Politics; Political Party Strengthening; Civil Society and Advocacy.

Also, below are some resources from our Library that might be useful to you:

Nominating for Change: Strengthening Women's Position in Political Parties

Experiences In The Last Decade On Fostering Women’s Political-Participation In Kenya http://iknowpolitics.org/en/node/2297

The Implementation of Quotas: African Experiences
http://iknowpolitics.org/en/node/141

National Machinery, Action Plans and Gender Mainstreaming in the Council of Europe Member States http://iknowpolitics.org/en/node/1992

Electoral Processes in Selected Countries of the Middle East: A Case Study http://iknowpolitics.org/en/node/127

Building Democracy in Jordan: Women's Political Participation, Political Party Life and Democratic Elections http://iknowpolitics.org/en/node/170

We hope this information will be helpful to you.

Sincerely,

iKNOW Politics Staff