An aspirant for Kericho gubernatorial seat Engineer Fred Kirui on Tuesday gave up his ambitions and instead accepted to be Dr Eric Mutai's running mate.
Mutai is seeking to be governor.
In a signed agreement, Mutai and Kirui will run for the county top seat as governor and running mate respectively.
The mutual agreement was signed at a hotel in Kericho town and was attended by scores of supporters of the duo.
Before venturing into politics Dr, Eric Mutai was a lecturer at the University of Embu with Engineer Kirui being a director with the Kenya Ports Authority.
The situation now puts yet another potential contender for the seat former cabinet minister Charles Keter in an awkward position as he has to fight tooth and nail to clip the growing popularity of the two.
Dr Mutai hails from the Bureti sub-county with Engineer Fred Kirui hailing from Kipkelion West in Kericho county.
Dr Mutai is in his first attempt. Kirui is in his second attempt. The duo want to take over from outgoing Kericho governor Prof Paul Chepkwony who is on his second and last term.
In a signed statement, the two said they will run as a team in Thursday's United Democratic Movement(UDA) party primaries.
Others in the race for the county's top seat include deputy governor Lily Ngok, Prof James Sang, independent candidates Engineer Samuel Rotich and Engineer Elijah Maru.
