UDA grassroots polls: Can party break jinx, hold credible vote?

Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichung’wah participates in UDA grassroot elections on January 10, 2026 in Kiambu County. [KIMAKU CHEGE, STANDARD]

President William Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party has failed to pass the test of becoming the first political party to successfully conduct grassroots elections despite spending millions of shillings on the exercise in 20 counties.

President Ruto has now directed party officials to repeat the polls in areas where the exercise either failed due to lack of interest or recorded low turnout.

UDA’s announcement that it will conduct repeat grassroots elections in selected areas has cast doubt on whether the ruling party will meet its ambitions of rolling out elections from the grassroots to the national level.

Earlier this week, the party instructed its National Elections Board (NEB) to organise fresh polls in all centres where voting did not take place or where participation was considered inadequate.

The decision was announced after a National Executive Committee meeting chaired by President Ruto.

Earlier, party loyalists had boasted that UDA was on course to become the first political party to conduct people-centered grassroots elections that would cascade through its structures and culminate in the elections of national officials, a fete yet to be achieved in Kenya historically.

The exercise involved about 300,000 candidates contesting in 20 counties across 12,000 polling stations.

Through it, the party sought to break a long-standing jinx in Kenyan politics, where parties have failed to hold elections across all structures due to internal wrangles, logistical challenges and external interference. 

By law, political parties are required to conduct grassroots elections at polling station level and progressively build their leadership structures up to the national level ahead of general elections. 

Repeat polls

Following the conduct of grassroots elections, political parties typically announce repeat polls where necessary and establish dispute resolution mechanisms, as is the case with UDA.

In a notice dated January 9, the party’s Electoral and Nomination Dispute Resolution Committee (ENDRC) chairperson Adrian Kamotho said it would be on standby to receive, hear and determine all disputes arising from the polls. The committee directed that complaints be lodged within 24 hours of the declaration of results.

The process culminates in the National Delegates Convention (NDC), the party’s highest decision-making organ, which brings together delegates from all levels to ratify the party constitution, elect national officials and endorse or nominate the presidential candidate.

However, events during the third phase of the exercise have cast doubt on the process.

The day-long exercise held last week across Rift Valley, Mt Kenya and Western regions was marred by low voter turnout and delays in the delivery of election materials.

In Mt Kenya region, widely perceived to have shifted allegiance to former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP), there were reports of party electoral officials failing to arrive at polling centres in time.

In Kirinyaga County, Governor Anne Waiguru protested that officials either failed to turn up or were missing in 26 polling stations across six constituencies.

Earlier, UDA Secretary General Hassan Omar had said the party was fully prepared for the exercise.

“A total of 310,651 candidates have registered to contest 237,940 grassroots positions across 12,000 polling centres in 20 counties. The exercise is expected to attract about three million party members, making it the largest internal party election ever undertaken in the country,” Omar said.

However, returning officers painted a grim picture, citing low turnout and logistical challenges.

In Elgeyo Marakwet, returning officer James Losikany said that by 1pm, election materials had reached only 80 per cent of polling stations.

“Due to poor road network in some areas, we were forced to use donkeys and motorbikes to deliver materials. This delayed the start of the exercise,” Losikany said. In Nyeri, returning officer Ishmael Bosire attributed the low turnout to Gachagua influence, as well as coincidence of the polls with Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) elections.

Conducting party primaries is a complex undertaking that presents challenges capable of derailing even well-laid democratic plans.

Historically, the late Raila Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) came closest to holding successful elections from the grassroots to the national level before the infamous “men in black” incident.

After a largely successful grassroots exercise, ODM held its NDC on February 28, 2014, at Kasarani Stadium in Nairobi. However, as voting was about to begin, the “men in black” stormed the venue, overturned tables, destroyed ballot boxes and scattered voting materials.

The chaos was triggered by deep-seated rivalries between two powerful factions within ODM.

History and governance professor Macharia Munene says the success of internal party elections largely depends on the credibility and integrity of party leadership.

“Leadership matters. If leaders are not genuinely interested in elections, they merely go through the motions to satisfy legal requirements. With UDA, its popularity has declined as many Kenyans now view it as unreliable,” Munene said, noting that most parties remain personality-centred rather than people-centred.

He added that for UDA to regain credibility, it must move beyond rhetoric and deliver practical solutions, which would encourage freer, fairer and more people-centred internal elections.

According to the Katiba Institute, political parties have failed to nurture a culture of internal democracy, accountability and good governance

The Institute notes conflicts between the interests of party leaders and the aspirations of voters have often undermined internal elections.

Whether UDA will break this cycle and rewrite history, or suffer the same fate as its predecessors, remains to be seen.