Before 2002 the party had been an insignifanct splinter group which was joined by a large number of former KANU members after the nomination of Uhuru Kenyatta to be KANU's presidential candidate. Members of the former National Democratic Party NDP of Raila Odinga which had joined KANU only in summer 2001 left the then ruling party together with KANU politicians who were opposed to what they perceived as imposition of Kenyatta as candidate by the then president Moi. After leaving KANU, they did not take the risk of attempting to register a new party under a government controlled by Moi but instead opted to join the existing LDP which offered them a space.