President William Ruto and ODM boss Oburu Oginga during a past meetingThe Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) has disowned a purported agreement circulating online that allegedly outlines how the party and the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) would share elective seats in the Coast region ahead of the 2027 general election.
ODM dismissed the document as fake, warning the public against treating it as an authentic agreement between the two parties.
“Treat this as FAKE News…,” the party said in a post on X while reacting to the circulating document.
The purported agreement claimed that ODM and UDA had reached a deal on the fielding of candidates for elective positions in the Coast region as part of their political cooperation.
It purported to outline how various seats would be shared between the two parties, including the positions of governor, senator and woman representative across six coastal counties.
According to the document, Mombasa governor and woman representative positions would be reserved for ODM, while the Senate seat would go to UDA.
In Kwale, the purported arrangement allocated the governor and senator positions to UDA, while the woman representative seat was said to have been reserved for ODM.
The document further claimed that ODM would take all elective seats in Kilifi County.
It also purported to allocate all elective positions in Tana River, Lamu and Taita Taveta counties to UDA.
The document described the alleged arrangement as an agreement reached “in the spirit of cooperation, mutual respect, and the best interest of the people.”
"The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) and the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) have reached the following agreement on the fielding of candidates for elective positions in the Coast Region, in the spirit of cooperation, mutual respect, and the best interest of the people," it stated.
However, ODM rejected the purported deal, making clear that the document circulating online did not represent an official agreement between the two political parties.
The development comes as ODM and UDA continue to position themselves amid an ongoing political cooperation between the two parties.
The cooperation has generated considerable speculation over possible electoral arrangements, including whether the parties could field joint candidates or agree on how to approach particular constituencies and counties.
The purported Coast agreement appeared to feed into those discussions by assigning specific elective positions to either ODM or UDA.
However, ODM’s response means the allocations contained in the document should not be treated as an agreed position of the party.
The Coast region is expected to be an important battleground in the 2027 elections, with political parties seeking to consolidate support across Mombasa, Kwale, Kilifi, Tana River, Lamu and Taita Taveta counties.
