- The upcoming UDA delegates convention is crucial as it will adopt a new leadership structure that confirmed Gachagua as the sole deputy party leader
- The NDC will also set the President's path for reelection as he is expected to seek a second term in office.
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President William Ruto's strongholds will have the highest number of delegates that will pick national officials of his UDA.
The UDA National Executive Committee meeting chaired by President Ruto on Saturday evening agreed on a formula which will see opposition strongholds send fewer delegates to the National Delegates Convention in December.
Lately, regions like Western, Nyanza and Coast have been warming up to UDA with significant number of delegates turning up in the ongoing grassroots polls.
A statement by UDA party said Ruto put to rest the contentious issue of the composition of the NDC with NEC strongly adopting the formula on sharing of delegates on a county basis depending on the presidential vote that each county returned to the UDA presidential candidate in 2022 elections.
'This process will see counties that garnered over 50 percent produce 20 delegates each to the NDC,'' the statement reads in part.
Other counties that produced less than 50 per cent of the presidential votes in their region will be sharing other slots on a pro-rata basis.
With the raging storm in Mt Kenya counties amid fears of sharp differences between Ruto and his deputy, it is not clear how Ruto will assuage the region to align with the party ahead of the 2027 polls.
The issue of the composition of the NDC has triggered squabbles in UDA as big guns jostle for senior leadership positions of the party in the national elections planned for later this year.
There have been fears among leaders that some regions would be disadvantaged especially those that are warming up to President Ruto but backed Azimio in the last polls.
However, under the new formula, regions that voted less for Ruto will have fewer delegates in what insiders say is a move to insulate UDA from opposition moles that may try to sway the national polls.
With the agreed formula, counties from the vote-rich Mt Kenya region and those from the Rift Valley will have the highest number of delegates at the December NDC.
The two regions were crucial in his State House victory with at least 17 counties handing him over two-thirds of the 7.1 million votes he garnered to succeed Uhuru Kenyatta.
The 10 Mt Kenya counties and the seven from the North Rift region handed Ruto 4.5 million votes, translating to 63 per cent of his total votes.
The upcoming UDA delegates convention is crucial as it will adopt a new leadership structure that confirmed Gachagua as the sole deputy party leader with other assistants.
The NDC will also set the President's path for reelection as he is expected to seek a second term in office.