By James Mutua
The United Democratic Alliance (UDA) will on Saturday conduct the repeat Phase III grassroots elections across 18 counties as the party continues to strengthen its internal leadership structures ahead of future political activities.
According to the party’s Secretary General Hassan Omar Hassan, the elections will take place in Kiambu, Murang’a, Kirinyaga, Nyeri, Nyandarua, Embu, Meru, Samburu, Trans-Nzoia, Uasin Gishu, Elgeyo-Marakwet, Nandi, Baringo, Laikipia, Kericho, Bomet and Vihiga.
The party announced that more than 500,000 candidates have registered to contest various grassroots positions at polling centres. The positions are drawn from different interest groups including women, youth, special interest groups, farmers, religious representatives, professionals and MSME traders.
UDA estimates that approximately eight million voters will participate in the exercise across 8,819 polling centres.
To streamline the process, the party said it has deployed technology to manage the elections from start to finish. About 9,000 electronic voting tablets have been distributed across polling centres to facilitate the voting process and enhance efficiency.
Voting is scheduled to begin at 8:00 a.m. and close at 5:00 p.m., with results expected to be made available through a public portal on the party’s website.
Upon completion, the exercise is expected to produce about 150,000 elected grassroots officials who will serve as the party’s local leadership representatives.
The grassroots elections form part of UDA’s ongoing efforts to strengthen its party structures at the local level and ensure broader representation of members across the country.
