President William Ruto has expressed his dissatisfaction over the low voter turnout in the recently conducted United Democratic Alliance (UDA) grassroots elections.

Speaking at the State House in Nairobi on Monday, January 26, 2026, while addressing the National Governing Council (NGC), Ruto expressed his disappointment that the leaders did not take the initiative to guide the process leading to the failure of the process.

The grassroots elections that were meant to elect 20 party officials per polling station were termed as unsuccessful. In his statement, Ruto noted that a strong political party is made at the grassroots, at the polling station.

“I want to ask you, as leaders, that the grassroots is very important. I want to encourage you to get back to the ward level and become the leaders at the grassroots. The legitimacy of the party comes from the grassroots. I was a member of the KANU party, and the reason why the party excelled for many years was that leaders were elected at the grassroots,” observed Ruto.

Grassroots elections repeat

The UDA party leader has now called for a repeat of the grassroots elections, saying that it is ready to invest more on the elections to make sure that the party has strong foundation in the next general election.

Broad-based government

Ruto has also praised the formation of thebroad-based government in which the ruling coalition entered into a working relationship with the ODM party. The president said that it has brought about the success of running the government.

Ruto has promised the governing council to continue with the broad-based arrangement for a formidable working relationship in the forthcoming general elections.