The David and Goliathh or from the Ruling to the Opposition Political Party: The PDP, Crisis of Internal Democracy and 2015 Election Outcomes in Nigeria

Abstract

Generally, Nigerian political parties in the present republic have been hampered by crisis of internal democracy thus undermining their political leadership recruitment function. Also, this has negative implications for party discipline and unity. The resultant effects are party factionalization, defection and carpet-crossing. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is a good example of one of these Nigerian political parties that lacks internal democracy. In fact, PDP was a leviathan. The 2015 Election symbolized a contest between David and Goliath. The electoral outcome is that PDP has transformed from a ruling party to an opposition party. The study, by relying on the theory of relative autonomy of the state and secondary sources, concludes that the PDP authoritarianism deepened crisis of internal democracy in Nigeria and that this authoritarian character of the former ruling PDP was a reflection of the authoritarian character of the Nigerian state which is currently shaping the ruling APC. The implication being that this lack of internal party democracy in Nigerian political parties generally undermines the credibility of the entire electoral process thereby rendering the entire process undemocratic. The study is essentially qualitative, historical and inductive.