Orange Democratic Movement

The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) is a centre-left political party in Kenya. It is the successor of a grassroots people's movement which was formed during the 2005 Kenyan constitutional referendum campaign. This movement separated in August 2007 into the Orange Democratic Movement Party of Kenya and the Wiper Democratic Movement – Kenya (formerly the Orange Democratic MovementKenya, known as ODM–Kenya). The name "orange" originates from the ballot cards in the referendum, in which the banana represented a "yes" vote, and the orange represented a "no" vote. Thus, the parties demonstrates that it supported a no vote in the 2005 referendum. The original linchpins of the ODM were Uhuru Kenyatta's KANU party and Raila Odinga's LDP. While Kenyatta left KANU, Odinga remained and now leads ODM. 2005 constitutional referendum In the 2005 Kenyan constitutional referendum, the "no" vote, which the ODM campaigned for, won with 58.12% of Kenyans voting down the proposed constitution. Following this, President Mwai Kibaki dismissed his entire cabinet. The response of the ODM was to say that this was a step in the right direction and to call for an immediate general election, claiming that the Kibaki regime, which had campaigned vigorously in favour of a yes vote in the referendum, had lost its mandate. Kibaki's government resisted this; elections were not to be held until the last week of Kibaki's five-year constitutionally-mandated tenure. The ODM emerged as a major opposition party, along with KANU, and organized a number of rallies asking for elections and a new constitution. The ODM also protested against the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which opposed the referendum, being dropped from Kibaki's new cabinet.