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Party System and the Dominance of the People’s Democratic Party

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Nigeria’s 2015 General Elections

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Abstract

This chapter examines the rise and fall of the PDP from its formation in 1998 through its 16 years of firm grip of power at the national level and in most of the 36 states of the federation. It discusses some theoretical perspectives on party systems and a dominant party, showing how the dominance of PDP was fostered by the ability of the party to build a fairly truly multiethnic coalition across the country, the influence of retired military officers as a strong power bloc in Nigerian politics post-1999; the ineffectiveness of election administration, abuse of power of incumbency, poor state of the economy and inherent contradictions associated with opposition parties. The chapter discusses the crisis of internal democracy which ultimately led to the implosion of the party, including the inability of the leadership of the party to handle the implementation of its zoning policy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute for Legislative Studies, Abuja, Nigeria

    Ladi Hamalai

  2. Department of Political Science, University of Jos, Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria

    Samuel Egwu

  3. Research and Training Department, National Institute for Legislative Studies, Abuja, Nigeria

    J. Shola Omotola

Authors
  1. Ladi Hamalai
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  2. Samuel Egwu
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  3. J. Shola Omotola
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Hamalai, L., Egwu, S., Omotola, J.S. (2017). Party System and the Dominance of the People’s Democratic Party. In: Nigeria’s 2015 General Elections. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54096-2_4

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