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Ruto, Oburu to form team for coalition talks
President William Ruto (left) confers with ODM party leader Oburu Oginga during the Piny Luo Festival in Senye Beach in Nyatike, Migori County on December 17, 2025.
What you need to know:
- President Ruto and Dr Oburu are expected to form a technical team to begin the talks that would include fronting a joint presidential candidate.
- ODM structures across the country have since been mobilized to back the move pending the party’s NDC set to be convened anytime this year.
President William Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance (UDA) on Wednesday resolved to jointly form a negotiating team with the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) in coming up with a new coalition for 2027 elections.
The resolution was made by UDA’s National Executive Committee meeting chaired by the President, two days after ODM’s Central Management Committee (CMC) mandated party leader Dr Oburu Oginga to commence coalition talks with UDA.
President Ruto and Dr Oburu are expected to form a technical team to begin the talks that would include fronting a joint presidential candidate and sharing of positions. ODM has since indicated its intention to back Dr Ruto’s re-election, but has laid claim on the running mate slot.
“The NEC noted the decision of the ODM Party Central Management Committee to initiate structured negotiations with the UDA Party, in the Kenya Kwanza Coalition, to strengthen the ongoing political partnership and negotiate a coalition agreement ahead of the 2027 general elections,” the party said in a statement.
“The NEC mandated the UDA Party Leader to establish mechanisms for structured engagement with the ODM party to achieve the desired outcome.”
On Monday, Dr Oburu said the party is now ready to begin talks with different political formations with UDA the first in line. The party resolved to initiate the negotiations, saying the party cannot afford to wait to begin preparations for the 2027 elections.
President William Ruto (left) with ODM party leader Oburu Oginga, Migori Governor Ochilo Ayako and Homa Bay Governor Gladys Wanga during the Piny Luo Festival in Senye Beach in Nyatike, Migori County on December 17, 2025.
“The Committee meeting expressed the intention to initiate structured negotiations with different political formations, beginning with the United Democratic Alliance,” said Dr Oburu after the CMC meeting in Vipingo, Kilifi County.
“To this end, we have mandated the Party Leader to commence this process. Concurrently, consultations with Party members will proceed, culminating in the National Delegates Convention,” he said.
Dr Oginga had on Friday indicated plans by the two parties to form a negotiating team to start the coalition talks.
Opposed to Ruto’s re-election bid
“We will soon establish a negotiating team to begin talks with UDA because it is very difficult for a party to go it alone without seeking the support of others. Therefore, we must negotiate with others. We will start with our partners in the broad-based arrangement,” Dr Oginga said on Friday during a burial in Alego Usonga, Siaya County.
“We got into this government by accident. As we approach 2027, we are not going get into government through back door. I will head the ODM negotiations.”
ODM structures across the country have since been mobilized to back the move pending the party’s NDC set to be convened anytime this year. There have been coordinated endorsement of the proposed coalition.
It started with assembling of about 40 ODM Members of Parliament in Nairobi’s Karen to offer a ringing endorsement for the decision. On Tuesday, delegates from various regions were being mobilized to declare their support for the move.
In Kisumu, ODM’s Kisumu County Vice Chairman Seth Ochieng led delegates to endorse the resolution by the party on Tuesday. The mobilization in the regions has been informed by the fears that those opposed to Dr Ruto’s re-election could pull a surprise on pro-broad-based team at the NDC.
ODM Secretary General Edwin Sifuna speaks during celebrations marking what would have been the 81st birthday of former Prime Minister the late Raila Odinga at his home in Karen, Nairobi, on January 7, 2025.
ODM Secretary General Edwin Sifuna, co-deputy party leader Godfrey Osotsi, Siaya Governor James Orengo, MPs Babu Owino (Embakasi East), Caleb Amisi (Saboti) and Antony Kibagendi (Kitutu Chache South) are among ODM leaders opposed to backing Dr Ruto’s re-election.
They have since demanded for an NDC for party delegates to have the final say on the way forward for the party that has been rocked with major divisions following the death of its founding leader Raila Odinga.
“We were supposed to have our National Delegates Convention (NDC) towards the end of the year, but we may be forced to have it earlier to prove to the country that this is a strong party.”
“There are those who think that after the NDC the party will disintegrate. It is not possible. The NDC would be just to affirm what the people already know,” ODM co-deputy party leader and Kisii Governor Simba Arati told Daily Nation.
He said those opposed to the broad-based arrangement have no numbers to take over the running of the party.
Kisii County Governor Simba Arati during the interview at his Lavington office in Nairobi on January 9, 2026.
“The question is who are they? They cannot take over the party because the party has structures and leadership. There is freedom of speech within the party but the party position is processed through the party organs.”
Following the Monday’s CMC meeting, Dr Oginga said the party will also commence groundwork aimed at positioning as a major player in the next polls.
“The Central Committee noted that the general election will be held next year, and resolved that the Party cannot afford to wait to begin preparations,” he said.
Three weeks ago, Dr Oburu had hinted that ODM will declare its position on President Ruto’s re-election by June 2026 and that the party will not wait until 2027 for such talks.
He said ODM is ready for a formal, negotiated arrangement that reflects its political weight and historical grievances.
The party leader and a host of other ODM top leaders have been public in their support of the broad-based government, hinting at backing Dr Ruto for a second term. Some of the party officials have publicly indicated that working with Dr Ruto remains ODM’s most viable path to power.
