Speaker Ethuro pushes senate special sitting on election laws to January 5

Speaker Ekwee Ethuro has summoned senators for a special sittings on Thursday, January 5 to debate the contested electoral law amendments.

In a gazette notice, the speaker said the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2016 will be the only business of the day.

Earlier this week, Ethuro directed the Senate Legal Affairs committee to invite public input on amendments to the contentious election law.

Ethuro pushed the debate on Election Laws (Amendment) Act 2016 to January 4, 2017 to allow the said committee conduct the public hearings.

The senators met on December 28th to consider controversial changes made to the electoral laws as adopted by the National Assembly on December 21.

The changes, which significantly alter the Elections Laws (Amendments) Act 2016, have been opposed by Cord leaders and members of the opposition.

Read: Raila gives Uhuru nine-day ultimatum on election laws, says demos a last resort

But Jubilee has said the manual voting system should be in place just in case technology fails.

If they are changed, it will force a mediation between the Senate and National Assembly to discuss them.

Source: The Star