Elections 2019: APC, PDP still the majority political party in Nigeria

A recent public opinion poll conducted by NOIPolls has revealed that majority of Nigerians are not aware of most registered political parties in the country.

The poll which was released on Tuesday, February 5, also revealed that the two most popular political parties in Nigeria are the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and main opposition, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The respondents, however, showed some level of awareness on about 26 of the 91 registered political parties with the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) coming third followed by the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

A total of 73 of Nigeria’s 91 political parties are participating in this year’s general elections having candidates in different political positions across the 36 states and FCT.

NOIPolls says the intensity of electioneering by political parties and candidates have been low as compared to the 2015 general elections.

Part of the report read: “Respondents were asked to mention at least 5 of the political parties they are aware of and the poll revealed that APGA (30 percent) topped the list of political parties most Nigerians are aware of. “Other parties include Social Democratic Party (17 percent), Labour Party (8 percent) and People’s Redemption Party (7 percent) amongst others. “It is worthy to note that while The All Nigeria Peoples’ Party (ANPP) technically no longer exists, a few Nigerians still mentioned it as a top of the mind party they are aware of.

“In conclusion, it is overwhelmingly surprising that of the 91 registered political parties and 73 participating parties, a vast majority of Nigerians are aware of about 26 of them. This indicates low level of awareness creation amongst political parties apart from PDP and APC.

“Therefore, there is need for these political parties to embark on an awareness creation campaign by organizing town hall meetings, rallies and even appearing on live shows on radio and television across the country. “Even after the elections have come and gone, it is still important for these political parties to remain relevant in the polity as this will indirectly increase the electorate’s awareness of their parties respectively.”

It was gathered that the poll was conducted in the first week of January 2019 and it involved telephone interviews of a random nationwide sample. 1,000 randomly selected phone-owning Nigerians aged 18 years and above, representing the six geopolitical zones in the country, were interviewed.