The Office of the Registrar of Political Parties (ORPP) has allowed the promoters of Linda Mwananchi Movement (LMM) to reserve the name for the next and final stage of the proposed political party registration. Registrar of Political Parties John Cox Lorionokou announced this decision in a letter dated October 1, 2026. This followed the Tribunal’s decision to set aside Registrar’s decision of August 7 on the ground of lawfulness.

The reserved name will remain in place for a period of ninety days, within which the promoters are expected to complete the remaining steps involved in the formation process. This, however, does not mean that the LMM will immediately become a registered political party, as several other procedures need to be completed.

“Pursuant to the judgment in PPDTA/E001/2026 Michael Caroli Omondi & Another Vs Registrar of Political Parties and Section 8 of the PPA, your application for the name Linda Mwananchi Movement (LMM) has been approved.” read part of the message sent by Lorionokou to the promoters of the new movement.

The latest development was triggered on September 30 when the Political Parties Disputes Tribunal (PPDT) nullified the Registrar’s decision not to retain the name Linda Mwananchi .

According to the Tribunal, the decision made by the Registrar, to decline the application for reservation of the name Linda Mwananchi was “unjustifiably limited the appellants’ right to form or participate in forming a political party under freedom of association” because it was taken “without lawful basis”. The Tribunal also noted that the registration of LINDA as a political party had expired and hence, the appellants were not prevented from reserving another name by regulation 5(1)(b) of the PPA.

“There was no lawful basis for refusing to register a political party with the name Linda Mwananchi because the Liberty National Democratic Alliance’s (LINDA) earlier reservation of that name had expired by operation of law and could not, therefore, be relied upon to prevent the respondent from reserving the same name. In addition, the pleadings of LINDA were struck out because as at the time of filing, that entity had not attained full registration as a political party and, therefore, lacked the capacity to file those pleadings in its name,” the Tribunal noted.

With this, the Linda Mwananchi promoters have a window of ninety days to complete the necessary procedures to register the party. This, however, does not imply that Linda Mwananchi will become a registered political party because there are still some requirements that the promoters must complete before they can become a fully operational political party.

Senator Edwin Sifuna of Nairobi and other members of the opposition are reported to be affiliated with the new movement. Nonetheless, the PPDT case was filed by Suba South Member of Parliament (MP) Caroli Omondi, Pauline Njoroge and former Law Society of Kenya president Faith Odhiambo.

As of now, political parties and new political formations are positioning themselves ahead of the 2027 General Election. As the clock ticks towards the due date for the registration of political parties, LMM promoters need to expedite the process.