Guide · Election dates
Kenya's 2027 election dates, as IEBC gazetted them.
Polling day is Tuesday 10 August 2027. Each date below comes from IEBC's Kenya Gazette special issue of 20 August 2026, its press release of the same day or, where it says so, the Elections Act, and each one links to where it is printed.
Checked 27 October 2026 against the sources listed at the end.
Polling day, and a court ruling
The Constitution says a general election is held on "the second Tuesday in August in every fifth year" (Article 101(1)). IEBC's Gazette Notice 13497 sets the presidential election for Tuesday 10 August 2027, and the other five notices in the same gazette give the same day for their elections (the gazette).
The dates, in order
Dates for parties, candidates, the Commission and voters. The last column links to the document and says where in it the date is printed.
| Date | Who | What | Printed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Political parties | Submit the names and specimen signatures of their authorized persons. | Notice 13497 (b) | |
| Political parties | Have their nomination rules certified by the Registrar of Political Parties. | Notice 13497 (c) | |
| Political parties | Submit their certified nomination rules to the Commission. | Notice 13497 (d) | |
| Anyone who wants to contest | The harambee rule applies after this day: a person who directly or indirectly participates in any public fundraising or harambee within eight months before a general election, that is after this date, is disqualified from contesting in the election.Note 5 of the same notices draws attention to section 26(2) of the Elections Act, 2011, which does not prohibit fundraising by or on behalf of a person contesting an election, or fundraising for a political party. | Notices 13497 to 13502 | |
| Public officers who intend to contest | Resign from public office, within six months before the election. | Notice 13497 (n) | |
| Political parties and candidates | Open the Election Campaign Financing account and submit its details to the Commission. | Notice 13503 (b) | |
| Political parties | Submit their membership lists to the Commission and, the same day, the names of the candidates contesting in their primaries with the dates and venues.The Gazette prints other dates for these steps: 23 March, 8 April and 12 April. | Press release, paragraph 18 | |
| Political parties | Have their membership lists certified by the Registrar of Political Parties. | Notice 13497 (e) | |
| Political parties | Submit the names of the persons contesting in their primaries, with the date and venues of the primaries, at least 21 days before nomination day. | Notice 13497 (g) | |
| Political parties | Submit the certified party membership list to the Commission. | Notice 13497 (f) | |
| The Commission | Publishes in the Gazette the names of the persons contesting in a party primary and the date of the primary, within seven days of receipt of the names of the candidates.The notice ends the sentence "by Friday 16th April, 2027", which can be read as the day the names are due or the day of publication. | Notice 13497 (h) | |
| Political parties | Conduct their primaries and resolve intra-party disputes, and submit to the Commission the name of each person nominated through a primary or by direct nomination. | Notice 13497 (i), (j) | |
| Independent candidates | Must not be members of any registered political party (at least three months before the election), and submit to the Commission the name and symbol they will use. | Notice 13497 (k), (l) | |
| The Commission | Publishes in the Gazette the names and symbols of the independent candidates, at least fourteen days before nomination day. | Notice 13497 (m) | |
| Presidential candidates | Deliver to the Commission a list of the names, signatures and identity card or passport numbers of at least 2,000 registered voters in each of a majority of the counties. | Notice 13497 (o) | |
| Political parties and candidates | Submit the names of the authorized persons who manage the Election Campaign Financing account and of the members of the expenditure committee. | Notice 13503 (a), (d) | |
| President, National Assembly and Senate | Nomination days open and the campaign period starts. The other seats start later: see the dates by seat. | Notices 13497, 13498 and 13499 | |
| Party candidates | Submit a preliminary nomination expenditure report to their party and the Commission, within twenty-one days of the party nomination and in any event not later than this day. | Notice 13503 (c) | |
| Voters | Registration of voters and revision of the register stop for the sixty days before polling day (Elections Act, section 5(1)(a)). This is the first of those days.Counted back sixty days from polling day. IEBC's notices do not print this date. | Elections Act, section 5(1)(a) | |
| Anyone with a dispute about the Commission's nomination | Lodge it within twenty-four hours of the event and in any event not later than this day. | Notice 13497 (q) | |
| The Commission | Determines nomination disputes within ten days of their being lodged; the hearing of the disputes is not later than this day. | Notice 13497 (r) | |
| Political parties | Submit their Party Lists to the Commission.Notice 13499 prints "Saturday, 25th June, 2027"; 25 June 2027 is a Friday, as the other three notices print it. | Notices 13498, 13499, 13500 and 13502 | |
| Political parties and candidates | Appoint and submit to the Commission the names of their Chief Election Agents: national and constituency for the President; county and constituency for the National Assembly, Senate, County Governor and County Woman Representative; constituency for County Assembly Ward. | Notices 13497 to 13502 (u) | |
| Everyone | The campaign period ends, 48 hours before polling day. Campaign time runs from 7.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m. during the campaign period. | Notice 13497 (s), (t) | |
| Voters | Polling day: "An election of the President of the Republic of Kenya shall be held on Tuesday, 10th August, 2027." | Notice 13497 (a), (w) | |
| Political parties and candidates | Notification and report on the action taken on any surplus campaign funds. | Notice 13503 (h) | |
| Party candidates, political parties and independent candidates | Submit the final expenditure report within three months after the election: party candidates to their party and the Commission, parties and independent candidates to the Commission. | Notice 13503 (e), (f), (g) |
Nominations and campaigns, seat by seat
Each of the six elections has its own notice. Nomination papers are delivered between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. and between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., at a place designated by the Commission. The campaign period ends on Saturday 7 August 2027 for every seat.
| Seat | Nomination days | Campaign period starts | Papers go to | Notice |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| President | to | the Chairperson of the Commission | 13497 | |
| National Assembly | to | the respective Returning Officer | 13498 | |
| Senate | to | the respective Returning Officer | 13499 | |
| County Governor | to | the respective Returning Officer | 13501 | |
| County Woman Representative | to | the respective Returning Officer | 13500 | |
| County Assembly Ward | to | the respective Returning Officer | 13502 |
Where IEBC's two documents differ
The gazette is the legal notice and the press release is the Commission's summary of it. On two points they give different dates, so both are shown.
Party membership lists and primary details
- Membership lists certified by the Registrar of Political Parties by Tuesday 23 March 2027; the names of the persons contesting in primaries, with the date and venues, by Thursday 8 April 2027; the certified list submitted to the Commission by Monday 12 April 2027. (Notice 13497 (e), (f), (g))
- IEBC says "political parties shall submit their membership lists to the Commission by Tuesday, 16th March 2027. On the same day, they are also required to submit the names of candidates contesting in their party primaries, along with the dates and venues for those primaries." (Paragraph 18)
Where two dates are given for one step, meeting the earlier one meets both.
When the campaign period starts
- Each seat's notice gives its own start: 29 May 2027 for President, National Assembly and Senate; 2 June for County Assembly Ward; 3 June for County Governor; 7 June for County Woman Representative. (Notices 13497 to 13502 (s))
- IEBC says the campaign period "shall commence upon registration of a candidate by the Commission, but not earlier than 29th May 2027, and shall end on 7th August 2027, 48 hours before Election Day". (Paragraph 24)
Both agree it ends on 7 August 2027 and that nothing starts before 29 May 2027.
What these documents do not give
Neither document gives a date for the audit of the register of voters. IEBC's press release says only that the register will be audited by an independent audit firm that will certify it for use in the 2027 election (paragraph 8).
The date after which registration of voters stops is not printed in IEBC's notices. It follows from section 5(1)(a) of the Elections Act, 2011, and is counted back from polling day in the table above.
More guides
- 2027 campaign spending limits: What a candidate for each seat may spend, county by county, constituency by constituency and ward by ward, from IEBC's Gazette Notice 12251.
- How a parallel tally works: What the law gives a candidate's agent at the polling station, how the result forms fit together, and why only IEBC declares results.
Sources
- Kenya Gazette special issue, Vol. CXXVIII, No. 144 (IEBC Notices 13497 to 13503) · 20 August 2026
- IEBC press release: Status of election preparedness · 20 August 2026
- Constitution of Kenya, Article 101(1) (Kenya Law)
- Elections Act, 2011, section 5 (Kenya Law, consolidated to 31 December 2022)
- Kenyans.co.ke: High Court declares 2027 presidential election invalid, suspends order · 7 August 2026
- Kenyans.co.ke: IEBC official explains why 2027 election date remains August 10 despite court ruling · 24 August 2026
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