Nairobi, Mombasa and Kajiado: Where UDA and ODM Can't Share a Ticket

The United Democratic Alliance (UDA) and the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) plan to back one presidential ticket in 2027, but they have not agreed who gets which county seat. The Star named Nairobi, Mombasa and Kajiado on 8 September 2026 as the places where that gap is widest. In Mombasa an ODM governor faces UDA's own Secretary-General. In Nairobi a UDA governor is weighing a move to ODM while Ruto has backed an ODM MP for the Senate. In Kajiado the ODM governor has threatened to take his supporters out of the party. As of 23 September no seat-sharing deal had been published.

Why the tickets are a problem at all

ODM wants its strongholds zoned, meaning UDA fields no candidate there, and it wants a joint technical team to map the country. UDA, Kenyans.co.ke reported in August, is pushing to field candidates everywhere. An ODM source gave The Star the rough plan: "All seats in Luo Nyanza will be zoned, Coast will be mostly joint, but Rift Valley counties will be free for all."

Politicians who expect to win on their own do not like either option. The wider fight, including ODM's claim to half of the next government, is in ODM's 50-50 demand. How a coalition's candidates actually appear on the ballot is explained in coalition or coalition party.

Mombasa: an ODM deputy leader against UDA's Secretary-General

Abdulswamad Nassir (Governor, Mombasa) is one of ODM's two deputy party leaders and is running for a second term. UDA Secretary-General Hassan Omar wants the same job and has said so openly. "If someone is confident about the support they enjoy, what is the problem in letting other parties field candidates as well?" Omar told The Star, an argument against zoning the county for ODM.

Nassir played it down. "I believe the parties will agree amicably. We wouldn't want to cast aspersions on the process," he said.

The field got wider on 10 September. Suleiman Shahbal, an East African Legislative Assembly MP who stepped aside for Nassir in 2022, quit ODM and said he would run on a new party, NTV reported. Three days earlier, at State House, Ruto had told him publicly: "I know you want to run for Mombasa governor, and I told you I am against it." Shahbal said the President had been "incited" and complained: "That is why they are pushing for zoning. Why can't you allow the electorate to decide?"

Mombasa had already had one false alarm. On 1 September ODM and UDA's communications director Nathaniel Mong'are both called a circulating document on Coast seat-sharing fake, Kenyans.co.ke reported.

Nairobi: a UDA governor, an ODM senator-in-waiting

Johnson Sakaja (Governor, Nairobi) won in 2022 on a UDA ticket. In an interview with Radio Citizen on 26 August he said ODM officials had urged him to join them. "There is no official date for when we will leave UDA, but the call is there," he said, according to Uzalendo News.

ODM's Nairobi branch did not roll out a carpet. Its chair, George Aladwa (Makadara), said anyone joining would face the party's nominations. "ODM is a big and recognised party. So, as our party leader has said, everyone who comes will go through the nomination process," he said on 6 September. Aladwa has been reported as wanting the governor's ticket himself, and other Nairobi ODM leaders had backed Babu Owino (Embakasi East), who announced his own Mwananchi Party as his vehicle on 18 September; that move is covered in Babu Owino's launch.

The Senate seat runs the other way. On 3 March 2026, in Dagoretti South, Ruto introduced Phelix Odiwuor (Lang'ata), the ODM MP known as Jalang'o, as "seneta wa Nairobi 2027", The Star reported. The seat is held by Edwin Sifuna (Senator, Nairobi), who has broken with ODM's leadership. The Star said it was unclear which party's ticket Jalang'o would seek.

Meanwhile the Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP) has promised candidates in all 17 constituencies. The governor polls are gathered in Nairobi's 2027 governor race.

Kajiado: the governor who threatened to close ODM

Joseph Ole Lenku (Governor, Kajiado) is serving his second term and cannot run for governor again; he has said he wants the Senate seat. His deputy, Martin Moshisho, is seeking the governorship on ODM. State House Comptroller Katoo Ole Metito has declared for the same seat on UDA.

On 22 August Lenku accused ODM's national leaders of campaigning for Metito. "I am an ODM governor, and my deputy is seeking to be governor under the same party. A month ago, we saw ODM leaders came here to campaign for a UDA candidate. That is betrayal," he said, according to Kenyans.co.ke. He demanded an apology from Oburu Oginga (Senator, Siaya), the ODM leader, and warned that the party would be "closed" in Kajiado and that its supporters could join Linda Mwananchi.

The same day, at Ewuaso Oonkidong'a in Kajiado West, Lenku said: "Any political party that fields a non-Maasai candidate for a position meant for the Maasai in Kajiado, Narok or elsewhere, we will have no relationship with you." The National Cohesion and Integration Commission summoned him over those remarks for 17 September, Capital FM reported, stressing that it had made no finding against him.

The Nation, on 8 September, described Kajiado as a county where ODM and UDA had already entered a political arrangement over the governorship and the Senate. That is the arrangement Lenku is fighting.

What to watch

The Star warned that losers in a zoning deal could run as independents or on rival tickets, with the two parties' candidates campaigning against each other while their leaders preach unity. The first formal test is the pre-coalition agreement the Nation expects after ODM's October memorial programme, and whether it names counties. The party-primary deadline of 8 May 2027 is when every one of these disputes has to end in a name on a nomination certificate.