Slippery blocs: Ruto's re-election bid faces tests across key regions

President William Ruto alongside Deputy President Kithure Kindiki, ODM Leader Oburu Oginga, Prime CS Musalia Mudavadi, and Governors Susan Kihika, Gladys Wanga, and Cecily Mbarire arrive at the Lake Naivasha Resort in Nakuru County for the broad-based government retreat on August 10, 2026. [Kipsang Joseph, Standard]

President William Ruto's re-election bid is entering a critical phase as shifting political alliances and growing competition in some of the country's key voting blocs raise questions over whether he can rebuild the broad coalition that secured his victory in 2022.

The President, together with his United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party lieutenants, has spent much of his first term trying to secure new political bases while losing some of his older ones at almost the same rate.