Nigeria heads for closest election on record

Author:: Nengak Daniel, Raphael Mbaegbu and Peter Lewis
Publisher:: Afrobarometer
Publication Date:: 27 January 2015
Tags:: Nigeria, Governance

Nigerians will go to the polls on 14 February to elect their president and national legislators to four-year terms, followed two weeks later by elections for many governors and state assemblies. The presidential election will be Nigeria's fifth since the return to democracy in 1999. In an Afrobarometer survey conducted two months before the elections, we find a highly competitive political field, with much uncertainty about the prospects for credible and peaceful polls and about the outcome of the elections. While most Nigerians look forward to voting and believe that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is prepared, many also express uncertainty about the likely integrity of the vote count and concerns about their personal security during highly competitive elections. The campaign environment remains fluid, but as of December 2014, Afrobarometer survey findings suggest that the race between the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) and its main challenger, the All Progressives Congress (APC), is too close to call.