The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Nigeria’s 2015 General Elections: Why was it Defeated?

Abstract

The essence of this paper is to evaluate the factors that led to the defeat of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Nigeria's 2015 general elections after ruling the country since the return to democracy in 1999. The paper used secondary data such as textbooks, journal articles, reports of election observer teams, party constitutions, workshop papers, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) documents, the Electoral Acts and the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The analysis of the information gathered unveiled the circumstances that were accountable for the defeat of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2015 general elections. The research asserts that some factors were accountable for the defeat of the PDP in the 2015 general
elections, principal among them is the monumental lack of internal party democracy in the party. The paper, therefore contends that though political parties are indispensable elements in a democratic setting, for them to make critical contributions to democratic governance, they must, among other things, stick to the principles of internal party democracy in order to sustain their electoral victory and make a profound input to democratic growth, stability and consolidation.