Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

What happens when a dominant party loses power?

The People's Democratic Party won national elections in Nigeria from 1999 to 2015. A combination of publicized corruption and determined organization by the All Progressives Congress brought an end to the PDP's power. Now the party is trying to reorganize and the internal politics look messy. How does this compare with what happened in Mexico when the PRI lost a presidential election? How does it compare with the leadership contest in the UK's Labour Party?

Nigeria's PDP in disarray: Two leaders, two court rulings

Nigeria’s People’s Democratic Party (PDP) seems to be in as much disarray as the Labour party in UK with splits and court cases in the battle for leadership of the beleaguered opposition party.

The situation in Nigeria seems even more chaotic – as two federal high courts have given two different rulings on whether party’s annual convention tomorrow in the southern city of Port Harcourt should go ahead…

Colorful umbrellas, a PDP symbol

The party also has two leaders, both of whom are powerful former governors:

Ahmed Makarfi, a former governor of Kaduna – his faction is in favour of the convention.

Ali Sheriff, a former governor of Borno – his faction is against it and he views it as an attempt to oust him after falling out with some key players in the party.

All efforts to reconcile the two powerful camps have so far failed.

It is a sad state of affairs for a party which ruled Nigeria for 16 years until losing elections last year.

It also means that with so much infighting, the country’s main opposition is not focused in its job of holding President Muhammadu Buhari’s government to account.

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