Kenya electoral commission has threatened to suspend elections in at least 31 electoral areas having pending court cases.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairman Wafula Chebukati said that the ongoing cases may stall the printing of ballot papers.

Mr Chebukati asked the Judiciary to fast-track the cases to allow the commission meet some of its key electoral timelines in preparations for the August 9 polls.

“I want to urge the Judiciary to finalise them (cases). If for any reason they are not finalised in good time, then as a commission, we cannot wait forever, we shall be forced to suspend elections in those areas where decisions that affect the printing of ballot papers are made because we cannot wait forever,” said Mr Chebukati.

The 31 pending cases arose from the 325 disputes that were lodged with the IEBC’s Dispute Resolution Committee.

The commission has since started printing ballot papers for electoral seats with no disputes pending in court. The first batch of the papers arrived in the country on Thursday.

The commission has indicated plans to print the ballot papers for the presidential race starting July 15. The commission plans to fly representatives of the candidates to Greece to monitor the printing.

Some of the cases were settled by the committee while the 31 proceeded to the High Court for Judicial Review.

Some of the high profile pending cases include petitions challenging the candidatures of Nairobi governor candidate Johnson Sakaja and Mombasa counterpart Mike Sonko.

Mr Sakaja is running on Deputy President William Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance ticket while Mr Sonko is running on Wiper.

Mr Chebukati made the remarks at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre on Saturday morning during a meeting convened by the National Cohesion and Integration Commission for the presidential candidates to commit to peaceful campaigns.