Elections in Nigeria 2003
In the April 2003 elections in Nigeria , the members of the Nigerian parliament , the president and the governors of the 36 states were elected in succession . The People's Democratic Party received the highest number of votes when Olusegun Obasanjo was re-elected president .
In 2003, Nigeria had a population of 122,790,463 people, of whom 60,823,022 were registered as voters.
background
For the first time in 15 years, a civil government organized new elections in Nigeria. Olusegun Obasanjo has been civil president since 1999. Although he and his party were the clear favorites, he was accused of rigging the election. 12 people were killed in rioting on April 12th.
Election fraud
Seven million voters had registered multiple times. The police in Lagos uncovered an election fraud in which an unknown man printed five million forged ballot papers .
International election observers , including those of the EU , discovered a wide range of irregularities in 11 of the 36 federal states. In many cases, ballot boxes were filled with prepared ballot papers or results were subsequently changed. In some states, the minimum standards for democratic elections were not met, they wrote in a communiqué that the EU published in Abuja .
Almost all opposition parties said they would not recognize the result of the general election. The electoral commission, which denied electoral fraud, said, for example, that in the city of Warri in the Niger Delta out of 135,739 voters, 133,529 had cast their vote for the general election. Election observers reported, however, that no elections had taken place until Saturday afternoon and only a few polling stations were open. According to election observers, the very long counting time compared to other countries also indicated possible election fraud.
Parliamentary elections
The parliamentary elections, in which the members of the Senate and the House of Representatives were elected, took place on April 12, 2003. Around 3,000 people ran for the 360 seats in the House of Representatives and the 109 seats in the Senate. The turnout was 49.3 and 50.0 percent, respectively.
| Political party | senate | House of Representatives | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| be right | percent | Seats | be right | percent | Seats | |
| People's Democratic Party (PDP) | 15,585,538 | 53.69 | 76 | 15,927,807 | 54.49 | 223 |
| All Nigeria People's Party (ANPP) | 8.091.783 | 27.87 | 27 | 8,021,531 | 27.44 | 96 |
| Alliance for Democracy (AD) | 2,828,082 | 9.74 | 6th | 2,711,972 | 9.28 | 34 |
| United Nigeria People's Party (UNPP) | 789.705 | 2.72 | - | 803.432 | 2.75 | 2 |
| National Democratic Party (NDP) | 459,462 | 1.58 | - | 561.161 | 1.92 | 1 |
| All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) | 429.073 | 1.48 | - | 397.147 | 1.36 | 2 |
| People's Redemption Party (PRP) | 204.929 | 0.71 | - | 222.938 | 0.76 | 1 |
| Further | 641,535 | 2.21 | - | 587,082 | 2.01 | - |
| total | 29.995.171 | 100 | 109 | 30.386.270 | 100 | 360 |
Presidential election
On April 19, 2003, the president and governors of the 36 states were elected. 20 people ran for the office of president. The INEC electoral commission demanded that the election winner had 25 percent in two thirds of the 774 Local Government Areas to prevent the president from representing only one region or ethnic group. The turnout was 69.1 percent.
The favorite was Olusegun Obasanjo . He was accused of having done too little against corruption, crime and poverty in Nigeria in his first term, contrary to his election promises. However, his commitment on his numerous trips to largely eliminate Nigeria's negative image abroad from the time of military dictatorships was rated positively. Obasanjo is a Christian Yoruba and was also supported by the AD.
His opponent with the most chances, Muhammadu Buhari , is a Muslim from Katsina in the Muslim north. He advocates Sharia law and advocated its extension to the whole country. He has distanced himself from these statements since the ANPP elected him as a presidential candidate. Finally, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu became famous for leading the Biafra independence struggle in the 1960s . He was elected almost exclusively by the Igbo , whose interests he represents.
The following table shows the results of the first three candidates:
| candidate | Political party | be right | percent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Olusegun Obasanjo | People's Democratic Party (PDP) | 24.456.140 | 61.94 |
| Muhammadu Buhari | All Nigeria People's Party (ANPP) | 12.710.022 | 32.19 |
| Chukwuemeka Odumegwu | All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) | 1,297,445 | 3.29 |
See also
swell
- ↑ US Census Bureau , mid-year estimate
- ↑ a b c African Elections Database
