Significant Socialist result in Nigerian Senate election

Wednesday April 16, 2003 16:23

by Kenneth Owende

Among allegations of serious vote rigging in favour of the ruling party a Socialist candidate has recieved a huge vote in the Lagos area in the Senate elections.

The provisional results of the elections for the Nigerian national Senate and House of Representatives, held on April 12, are being announced.

In the Lagos West constituency Lanre Arogundade, a founding member of the Democratic Socialist Movement (Nigerian CWI), stood as the National Conscience Party (NCP) candidate for the Senate. This was the first time that the NCP had been allowed to stand in an election.

Lanre received 77,330 votes, 9.64%, and came third behind the AD (party of the Lagos State Governor) and PDP (President Obasanjo's party) out of 30 candidates.

A total of 801,988 votes were cast in this constituency, which is the largest in the country. The Party for Social Democracy, the party sponsored by some trade union leaders, received 266 votes (0.08%).

In the other Senate seats in Lagos the NCP gained 17,142 votes (5.69%) in Lagos Central and 21,582 votes (6.51%) in Lagos East, in both these seats the NCP candidate came fourth.