NIGERIA
Parliamentary Chamber: Senate

ELECTIONS HELD IN 1999

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Chamber:
  Senate


Dates of elections / renewal (from/to):

  20 February 1999


Purpose of elections:

  Elections were held for all the seats in the Senate as part of the transitional programme aimed at restoring civilian rule by May 1999. General elections had previously taken place in April 1998 but were subsequently anulled.


Background and outcome of elections:

  Valid general elections had previously been held in July 1992. A year later, in November, the bicameral Parliament was dissolved after the military takeover led by General Sani Abacha. In October 1995, a three-year transitional programme aimed at restoring civilian rule was announced and, in September 1996, the political party system which had been suspended was re-established by the Armed Forces Provisional Revolutionary Council. However, only parties approved by the Government were entitled to nominate candidates to public office.

The parliamentary elections were part of a series under the democracy plan that had already seen local council and state assembly polling and which was due to culminate on February 27 with presidential voting. National legislative elections had already taken place on 25 April 1998, but were subsequently annulled. In June 1998, Gen. Abacha died and was succeeded as Head of State by Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar. The latter introduced sweeping economic and political reforms and vowed to hand over power to a civilian government in May 1999.

In the 1999 parliamentary poll, three parties fielded candidates for the 360 House of Representatives and 109 Senate seats. They were the People's Democratic Party (PDP), the Alliance for Democracy (AD) and the All People's Party (APP), the last two groups being allied. PDP had been the most successful in the December 1998/January 1999 local and state elections. During the campaign, all parties made similar promises to revitalize Nigeria after 15 years of military régimes. However, little ideological differences separated the groups and articulated platforms were largely absent. Instead, the pre-election period was dominated by political maneuvering and a search for support along ethnic and regional lines.

Polling day was generally peaceful but marked by a low turnout. International and local observers who monitored the voting noted "some serious irregularities" but deemed the elections generally fair. Final results gave the centre-left PDP an absolute majority in both the House and Senate while the centre-right APP topped the radical AD for second place. In the presidential election of 27 February, Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, the PDP candidate who had ruled from 1976 to 1979, defeated Mr. Olu Falae, the AD-APP nominee. He took office on 29 May and the newly elected Parliament held its first sitting on 3 June.

STATISTICS
Round no 1 (20 February 1999): Elections results  
Number of registered electors 57 938 945
Voters 24 386 247 (42 %)

Round no 1: Distribution of seats  
Political Group Total
People's Democratic Party (PDP) 66
All People's Party (APP) 23
Alliance for Democracy (AD) 19

Comments:
  Vacant seats to be filled: 1

Distribution of seats according to sex:  
Men: 105
Women: 3
Percent of women: 2.75


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Copyright © 1999 Inter-Parliamentary Union