An associate professor from America University, Carl LeVan, has
explained why he thinks the ruling party, All Party Congress (APC)
won the 2015 general election.
Mr LeVan gave an analysis during a development discourse
organised by Nextier SPD in Abuja yesterday.
The discussion was based on his new book titled, ‘Contemporary
Nigerian Politics: Competition in a Time of Transition and Terror.’
The discussion, which was intended to come after the 2019
presidential election came up two days after the elections were
postponed.
The polls were to open on Saturday with the presidential and
parliamentary elections until the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) announced a shift at about 2:45 a.m.
According to the chairman of the electoral body, Mahmoud Yakubu,
the presidential election will now hold on Saturday, February 23
while the state elections will also hold a week later on March 9.
‘LeVan Analysis’
Mr LeVan said based on his findings, most of the political parties in
2015 campaigned on different issues ”but the APC emphasised
economy, corruption and electoral integrity as its focal points”.
Mr LeVan, who hinged the analysis on three stages, said the
conditions that shaped voting outcome at the state level include
”state-level economic condition, even more than levels of violence”.
He explained that while the voters in 2015 voted on an individual
level, ”people still voted on the economy but ethnicity remained
salient with a strong influence of religion.”
“Voters do seem to be learning democracy. It is not clear that
institutions promoting inter-ethnic cooperation deterring religious
cleavages,” he said.
According to him, conditions that facilitated the 1999 transition are
sources of ‘democratic stress’ today.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) was formed on February 6,
2013, in anticipation of the 2015 elections.
The APC candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, won the presidential
election. The incumbent, Goodluck Jonathan, unexpectedly conceded
defeat before the final results were announced.
The election was the first time in Nigeria’s political history that an
opposition political party unseated an incumbent government.
Also, the APC won the majority of seats in the Senate and the House
of Representatives.
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